Everything is Possible
by Dragon Star Empress
Summary: Ant Bully  Sequel to Nothing Is Impossible Ann and Zoc settle into their new life, but quickly find out that their snooping around to find out the colony's past could have deadly consequences.
1. Chapter 1

This is the sequel to my very first fanfiction, Nothing Is Impossible which can be found in my other acount, pen name Seshta Keka Anna which I have in my favorite authors list so you can get to it through there to read the first story.

* * *

_Late February _

"Why can't we just use magic to do this?" Zoc asked as he scraped old paint and wall paper off of a wall.

"Because that wouldn't be as much fun, maybe if the walls were in good enough condition to just paint over all of this then we could have done it with magic, but since we have to scrape it all off its more fun to do it by hand." Ann replied from where she was working a couple of feet away.

"You really think this is fun?" Zoc asked.

"Of course, we're getting to see how everyone who lived in this house before us had the walls done. There's so much history and personality, see who ever chose this wall paper must have liked flowers and who ever chose the pale blue must have wanted something relaxing and the bright yellow must have been someone who wanted a bright cheery room and who ever chose the olive green just had horrible taste in paint." Ann said as she scraped through each layer.

"You are completely crazy," Zoc said as he set his paint scraper down and suddenly pulled Ann into his arms. "And I absolutely love that you can see so much more to this than most people would." He told her before kissing her.

When they finally stopped Ann said, "You love that I can see so much, but you still want to use magic to finish the job, don't you?"

"It would give us time to do some more fun things." Zoc replied.

"What do you think could be more fun than learning about the people who lived here before us?" Ann asked.

"We could go explore the woods, you've been saying you want to do that since the first time you saw the house." Zoc suggested.

"It's warm enough out today that most of the snow has melted; we would end up covered with mud." Ann pointed out.

"Then we'll clean the tub in our room before we leave, so we can get cleaned off when we get back." Zoc told her.

"Our huge, easily big enough for two, bathtub?" Ann asked with a mischievous grin.

"Exactly." Zoc replied gently kissing her neck.

"Okay, let's get this done with then." Ann said as she tightened her arms around Zoc and her ring started to glow and all the wall paper and paint started to fall away from the walls.

"I still can't believe you can do that." Zoc said as the last of the wallpaper fell to the floor.

"I know, it's so amazing though." Ann said.

"Yes, but you really should try using the crystal without holding on to me more often, I want you to be able to use it if I'm not around." Zoc told her.

"I can use it just fine to defend my self." Ann replied.

"You can use it just fine to cause small explosions, what if you needed to do something else?"

"Like what?" Ann asked then jumped and spun around as a piece of firewood fell from the pile next to the fire place.

"What if you needed to distract someone?" Zoc asked.

"Okay, fine, you have a point, but it can wait until after we get the bathroom cleaned and go exploring." Ann said as she kissed Zoc on the cheek and headed for the stairs.

After they finished cleaning the bathroom Ann and Zoc headed outside. "This still seems so strange to me, just being able to walk around outside and not having worrying about anyone seeing me." Zoc said as they stepped off the back porch and he slipped his arm around Ann's waist.

"I know, I'm so glad you managed to work everything out, I can't wait until we have the house fixed up enough to move in." Ann said as they headed towards the woods.

They had been walking along the edge of the forest for a while, looking for a way in that wasn't blocked by berry bushes when Ann stumbled over something large in the tall grass.

Zoc caught her just in time to keep her from hitting the ground and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Ann replied kneeling down and beginning to pull the grass and weeds back to see what she had tripped on.

A moment later she gasped, "I didn't know this place came with a cemetery." she said as she finished clearing off an old tomb stone then grabbed Zoc's leg and began to carefully push more of the weeds back with magic until a small cemetery with about a dozen tombstones had been cleared at the edge of the woods.

Ann went around gently brushing dirt and bits of the remaining plants off of the tombstones then said, "These are all from the 1840's to the early 1900's, this is amazing, they must have been some of the earliest settlers to come to this area and it looks like they've been covered up long enough that the stones have remained protected, they're in excellent condition." she said grinning up at Zoc.

"I suppose this means I shouldn't make dinner for you tomorrow night?" Zoc asked.

"Why would you say that?" Ann asked.

"Because you'll be at the library seeing what all you can find out about these people until they have to throw you out so they can close." Zoc said.

"Probably." Ann replied grinning at him, "This could be an important historical find, if anyone had known this was here it would have been in one of my books and I've been out to photograph all of the local cemeteries that are from the 1870's or earlier." Ann told him then hugged him excitedly, "We've found people who have probably been missing for decades."

"So having a bunch of dead people in our backyard is a good thing?" Zoc asked.

"Its absolutely the best thing we could have found in our backyard, even better than buried treasure." Ann replied.

"I suppose you're right, we've already done buried treasure, it's definitely more interesting to have some verity." Zoc said.

"Exactly!" Ann said as she wiped mud off of her hands from cleaning off the tombstones on the damp hem of her skirt before she pulled a pen and paper out of her camera bag that she had brought with her and began writing down the names and dates off of the tomb stones.

"Do you have another pen? Zoc asked.

"Yep'" Ann replied pulling out a second pen and hading it and some paper to Zoc so he could help write down the information.

"This is interesting." Ann said a moment later.

"What is it?" Zoc asked.

"William Kocher born 1790, died 1880 and Catherine Kocher born 1793, died 1890. The dates would just work for the parents of my great, great, great, great, grandmother Sarah Kocher Bordner, I've never been able to fine out who her parents are even though I know they lived in this area." Ann replied, "I just, it would be amazing if they are her parents." Ann chuckled, "Talk about literally _finding_ your ancestors."

Several minutes later Ann said, "Oh the poor thing."

"What is it?" Zoc asked.

"This poor woman, she lost two children in less than a year and then it looks like she died giving birth to another." she said pointing to three tombstones with lambs on top of them and the woman's who's death date was the same as the date on one of the others. "That's the most depressing thing about cemeteries, especially the older ones, so many children died."

Zoc came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "I know we both would have liked to have been able to have children, but I'm honestly kind of glad we can't, it would have just been too risky." he said.

"People do have perfectly healthy pregnancies a lot more often than there are complications." Ann replied leaning against his chest.

"Not like us though, even if the potion were able to change your genetics, there still would have been a chance the change wouldn't have been complete and there could have been unexpected complications." Zoc said.

"True." Ann replied shivering slightly as the wind kicked up a bit, She then turned to face him and kissed him, "I'll beat you back to the tub and a nice hot bath." she said before slipping away from him, lifting her damp and muddied skirt and racing towards the house.

She managed to keep far enough ahead of him to get the bath water running just before he stepped into the bathroom, pulling her into a long passionate kiss. His hands slid slowly up to the top of Ann's back and slowly unzipped her dress, slipped it off of her then moved on to remove the rest of her clothing until they had to part long enough for her to slip her shoes and socks off.

They slipped into the warm water and relaxed into each others arms. "Too bad we didn't bring the potion with us." Ann said trailing her hand over Zoc's chest.

"We know we wouldn't have gotten anything done around here if we had, we probably could have had everything cleaned up and ready to be repainted if we hadn't brought the potion with us as often as we have." Zoc pointed out.

"We're newly weds, we're allowed to get distracted with each other and forget about everything else." Ann replied kissing him while slipping one leg over his abdomen.

As Zoc had predicted Ann didn't get home the next night until shortly after nine.

Ann set her bag on the end of the couch then dropped down next to it and pulled out a couple of papers and started reading over them.

"They finally kicked you out?" Zoc asked coming into the room.

"Hmm mm," was Ann's only reply as she flipped to another paper.

"You're too quite, you didn't find what you were looking for did you?" Zoc asked.

Ann let out a frustrated sigh, "No, well kind of, I found part of the family who's buried out there, the woman Rachel and her husband George Fisher, I found the land records, census records, tax records and George's family clear back to when they came to America. Rachel's family just doesn't exist though, her obituary says that her maiden name was Kocher so the older couple buried at the house were probably her parents, but her obituary just says that her parent's moved here in the 1830's from Pennsylvania and doesn't give their names and all her death certificate says is that her father was Mr. Kocher-" Ann stopped and jumped up then ran into the library.

"What is it?" Zoc asked following her and watching as she began flipping through her large file cabinet of genealogy papers.

"This is all sounding way too familiar." Ann replied as she pulled out a file and began flipping through the papers, pulling out two, "Sarah Ann Brordner, born August fifteenth eighteen nineteen, died April twenty fourth nineteen fifteen, father Mr. Kocher." she read off of a death certificate then switched to an obituary, "Sarah Ann Bordner was born on the fifteenth day of August in the year of our lord eighteen nineteen, in Pennsylvania. When she was eleven years old her parents moved to the area." Ann read, "Rachel was only born six years before Sarah was, they could have easily been sisters or maybe cousins. Ach, I need to find more information, but I've looked everywhere I can think of." Ann said beginning to pace back and forth.

"I'm sure you'll find it eventually, right now though you need to eat some dinner and get some sleep." Zoc told her.

"I'm not hungry, so I can just skip eating and do a little more research before bed." Ann told him then mentally cursed her stomach when it growled.

"Sure your not hungry." Zoc said leading her out of the library and into the kitchen.

Sighing in defeat Ann said, "Alright maybe I'm a little hungry."

Ann woke up in the middle of the night and carefully sat up to get out of bed when Zoc asked, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I just need to check something down stairs." Ann replied.

"Does this thing you need to check involve a large stack of local history books and a pile of genealogical papers?" he asked.

"Well yes, but I need to check it while I'm thinking about it, I just know the family at the house is connected to grandma Sarah, I can just feel it and I need to prove it." Ann said as she started to stand up.

"You can check in the morning." Zoc said pulling her back down onto the bed and wrapping his arms around her.

"But Zoc-"

"What is it you need to check?" Zoc asked.

"I wanted to check my old land record book, the one the library doesn't have and see if there was any sign of William and Catherine in it." Ann replied.

"I'll remind you to check in the morning, every time you go on a midnight genealogy spree you don't come back, you check one thing and then think of a dozen more things to check and I find you the next morning asleep on the desk or the floor in the middle of a pile of books and papers and you end up sore from sleeping like that." Zoc told her gently kissing the back of her neck, his antennas gently brushing over her hair and cheeks, "I'm not letting go of you until morning."

Ann sighed and turned to lay her head on his chest, "Oh alright, I'll let you get away with stopping me tonight, but only because I have to work tomorrow." she replied.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally getting this updated, I had planned and on really going all out on the trip to Egypt, but I just never seemed to have the time to do enough research to fill it in better, maybe I'll go through and add to it later on.

Check out my Deviantart account which you can find through my homepage link on my profile. After finishing Nothing is Impossible I thought it could easily be changed into an original story that I might be able to get published someday. So I started rewriting it and it kind of took off on its own, while the very basic outline is still the same a lot has changed, so if anyone wants to check out the first chapter and let me know what they think I would really appreciate it. The current title is Under the Rose Bush.

Also I started an Ant Bully group on Deviantart if anyone is interested in joining.

* * *

By the beginning of May Ann had made no progress with her research of the people in the cemetery, but she and Zoc had gotten the entire house cleaned and all the old carpets, wall paper and paint removed and were able to begin to repaint the walls.

"You're doing much better." Zoc told Ann.

"Sure I am, you've finished two walls and I'm barely half way done with my first one." Ann said nearly dropping the paint brush when her concentration was broken.

"At least you've managed to use the crystal for something other than small explosions without touching me and you're not as shaky as you were when we started painting." Zoc pointed out, walking over next to her, where she was standing several feet away from the wall as the paintbrush moved along the wall, "But since you've been so good about putting up with me making you learn to use the crystal without me and we do need to get home to pack, I suppose I could let you cheat long enough to finish." he told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Ann leaned back against his chest, still concentrating on the painting as the brush began to move more smoothly and quickly. "I can't believe it's already May and we're leaving for Egypt tomorrow!" Ann said grinning excitedly.

"I know. You're sure I haven't forgotten anything that the colony might need while we're gone?" Zoc asked.

"Yes, I'm sure, now stop worrying so much. We're only going to be gone for a week, the same amount of time that we were in Washington, everything will be fine and if they do need anything Lucas will let us know." Ann said, turning to face him once she had finished the painting, "And we are going to have an absolutely wonderful time." she told him giving him a quick kiss, "Now let's get home and finish packing.

They left early the next morning, Zoc carefully hidden in the headband they had used for the trip to Washington.

As soon as Ann got to her room at the hotel in Egypt she let Zoc out then walked over to look out the window. "Oh Zoc look at the view, we can see the pyramids from here." she said excitedly, "I can't wait to actually get to go see them up close!"

"They do look quite impressive, and they're just giant tombs?" Zoc asked as he walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her as they looked at the view.

"Yep, the smaller one is pharaoh Menkaura's then next to that is Khafra's and then Khufu's, they're over four thousand years old." Ann told him then sighed, "I usually don't mind lectures, but I wish I could just skip the one today and didn't have to wait until tomorrow to see the pyramids up close."

"How long do you have until the lecture starts?" Zoc asked.

"About three hours, three hours to get settled in and rest after the flight or die of boredom for those of us who are too excited to be tired and need rest." Ann replied.

"Perhaps I could help keep you distracted until you have to leave for the lecture." Zoc said with a mischievous grin, "This is supposed to be our honeymoon after all."

Ann turned to face him, "You remembered the potion to turn me human again, right? I don't think I'll have long enough for it to wear off." she said.

"Of course." Zoc replied.

"Then distract me my husband." Ann said dramatically throwing her arms around Zoc's neck and grinning at him.

Zoc gave her one long passionate kiss, before he let her go and walked over to get his suitcase out of hers, it was only about two inches big, big enough to not get lost, but small enough to not take up much room. He made it bigger then opened it to get one of the carefully packed potions out.

"What do you think you're doing in there?" he suddenly demanded.

Ann walked over next to him to see what was going on just as Spindle flew up out of the suitcase chirping and buzzing.

"I don't care if you would have missed me, you would have been just fine. I told you Ann and I wanted some time to our selves with no one else around, not even you." Zoc said frustration becoming more and more evident in his voice.

Spindle made a few more sounds. "What if we need your help for something? What could we possibly need your help with? It's a school trip and supposed to be our honeymoon there is absolutely nothing we need you around for." Zoc said then caught Spindle and carried him over to the closet and turning on the light, he set one of the extra towels on the shelf then set Spindle on it, "You'd better get use to this, because this is where you're going to be spending most of the next week." he said before shutting the door and letting out a frustrated sigh.

"I'm so sorry about him, I don't know how he managed to sneak in there." Zoc said walking back over to Ann.

"It's alright, it's not your fault, he's just use to being with you most of the time and I keep stealing you away from him. We've been working on the house every time we have spare time for a couple of months now and he's only been out there once, the rest of the time he been left behind. He just needs a little more time to get use to us not wanting him around sometimes." Ann said wrapping her arms around Zoc's neck, "This just means we'll have to be a little creative to find somewhere private to spend some time together. Maybe we can leave him here and sneak into one of the other unoccupied rooms." she suggested.

The next few days flew by as Ann's group visited the pyramids, The Valley of the Kings, the Sphinx, museums and many archaeological sites, while Zoc road along in the earring Ann had worn in Washington and occasionally asked her questions when they were away from the group.

Ann woke up early the morning of the fourth day and gently began trailing kisses down Zoc's antennas until he finally opened his eyes. "You're never going to wait until the alarm goes off to get up are you?" he asked.

"I'm too excited to sleep until the alarm goes off, we get to go help with excavations at one of the workers villages today." Ann told him, grinning.

"I think I'll stay here today, riding around in the headband or earring when you're going in and out of tombs and stuff is fine and fascinating, but I don't think it would be a good idea if you're going to be out in the sun all day." Zoc told her.

"You're right, I don't want you dieing of heat stroke, that would just make the honeymoon terribly boring." Ann replied.

"Exactly. Too bad it hasn't been much of a honeymoon so far because of someone sneaking along." he said just loudly enough to get a chirp of apology from the closet where Spindle remained locked at night where he wouldn't have killed the mood anymore than he already was if anything had happened.

"Okay, yes having him in the room all the time, even if he is locked in a closet has put a bit of a strain on any honeymoon appropriate action, but I bet you'll be glad to have him around once I'm gone and you're stuck here all day with no one to talk to and nothing to do." Ann said.

"Maybe." Zoc said sounding less than convinced, "So do you have anything you have to do once you get back this evening?" he asked running his hand over Ann's bare shoulder.

"Nope, I can just come right back here and we'll have the rest of the evening to ourselves, maybe we can go out and find some nice private place and spend some quality time alone together." Ann replied.

"Perfect." Zoc said then pulled her into a long passionate kiss until the alarm clock went off and she had to get ready to leave.

Ann was thrilled when they got to the site and even happier when everyone was allowed to choose their own area to work. She chose an area along a foundation wall that would leave her fairly well hidden from the rest of the group and set to work, alternating between using the supplies she had been given and occasionally using her ring to carefully lift and move the sand while inspecting it for anything of interest.

After several hours of working Ann had managed to clear most of the floor of the main room of a small home. She was just finishing along the last wall when she noticed a hole that went part way through the wall and had something in it. She carefully pulled it out and found it was a small wooden box.

"Hey, I think I found something interesting over here!" she called to the site's supervisor.

The supervisor, a man in his early fifties, by the name of Daniel Arken, walked over to where Ann was, "What did you find?" he asked.

"I'm not quite sure, it's some type of box." Ann replied. "It was stuck in the bottom of the wall."

"Mark exactly where it was found and then meet me in the tent and we'll see if we can open this up." Dr. Arken told her as he handed her a clipboard with a sketch of the layout of the area they were excavating.

Ann did so then quickly followed him into a tent where they were storing the more delicate artifacts until they were properly packed and ready to be taken back to the museum.

When Ann got into the tent Dr. Arken was carefully examining the box she had found, "This is a wonderful find, it's in very good condition and I believe we'll be able to open it here without worrying about causing any damage." he told her.

"Great." Ann said, excited to get a chance to see what was in the box.

"Hold on to the bottom of the box and I'll see if I can lift the lid off." he instructed.

As he slid the lid off they found that the box contained several toys, a wooden doll with jointed arms and legs, a wooden pull string cat who's lower jaw could move up and down, and wooden and leather balls.

"It's a toy box." Ann breathed.

When Ann got back to her hotel room she collapsed onto the bed.

"You look exhausted." Zoc said.

Ann noticed just a hint of barely concealed disappointment in his voice and looked up at him, "Just a little, it was a long and exciting day, but nothing a short nap won't fix." she said standing up and walking over to him, "Let me sleep for just half an hour and then," she grinned, "I promise we'll get some use out of those potions you brought with you." she told him.

"We don't have to if you're too tired." Zoc replied.

"This is supposed to be our honeymoon and we certainly haven't been acting like it, anyways, I want to." she said then kissed him, "Just a short nap and then I should be fine, you had just better make sure Spindle has something to keep distracted because I am determined that we're going to find somewhere private and he's going to be here alone for a good long time." she told him seductively trailing her hand down his arm and abdomen as she walked past him to climb into bed.

"Don't worry I'll have everything taken care of by the time you wake up." Zoc assured her.

When Ann woke up there was no sign of Zoc in the room, even after she had called him several times, assuming he had shrunk himself for some reason.

She was just beginning to panic when he appeared near the open window. "Where have you been?" she demanded.

"I was just making a few final arrangements." Zoc told her.

"Final arrangements for what?" Ann asked.

"You'll see." Zoc replied taking her hand and then shrinking both of them.

Once he had shrunk them Ann noticed Spindle, who was at just the right size to carry them on his back. "What are you up to?" Ann asked.

Zoc just grinned at her as he helped her up onto Spindle's back, "You'll find out soon enough." he replied as they took off out the window.

A little while later they flew into the great pyramid.

"Zoc where exactly are we going? We're really not supposed to be in here." Ann pointed out.

"We could always turn back if you want to." Zoc told her.

"No, that's alright, I won't tell anyone we were in here." Ann quickly replied as they headed farther into the pyramid.

They headed up through the grand gallery and then into the relieving chambers, Ann grinned as they finally landed in the upper most chamber.

"Oh Zoc this is so amazing." Ann breathed, jumping off of Spindle as soon as he landed and began inspecting the walls with her glowing ring. "Here it is." she said a moment later as her ring lit up a section of hieroglyphs written in red ink on the wall, "Friends of Khufu. That's what one of the groups who worked on this chamber called themselves. I've heard about this, but never thought I'd actually get to come up here to see it in person." Ann said glancing back at Zoc in time to see Spindle disappear back out the way they had come, "Where's he going?" She asked.

"He'll be waiting down in the king's chamber when we're ready to leave, he has everything he needs down there and should be fine for several hours." Zoc told her as the crystal on his staff began to glow.

Ann gasped, a smile spreading across her face as the light revealed a blanket spread out with a simple meal of ham sandwiches set out on it, but surrounding the blanket were roses with rose petals spread across the blanket and surrounding stone.

Ann walked over to Zoc and wrapped her arms around his neck, "So you finally got tired of us not getting in any quality time and decided to lock us in a pyramid together until we get to have some proper honeymoon style fun?" Ann asked.

"That's the basic idea." Zoc replied, his antennas gently stroking her hair.

"This has got to be one of the most romantic things ever," Ann said kissing him, "Also wonderfully unique, we'll probably be the only people to have ever made love up here." she added stepping back just enough to slip her clothes off before taking the potion from his staff and drinking it.

As soon as the potion had taken effect she pulled him into a long passionate kiss, their antennas gently stroking each other's as Zoc gently lowered them to the blanket, any thoughts of taking time to eat were quickly forgotten.


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the trip went much the same as the first few days had and before they knew it, it was time to go home.

Within a few weeks of getting home they had gotten the whole house cleaned out and ready for new paint, wallpaper and carpets to be put in.

"Don't bother making dinner tonight, Elnora got a large bucket of coins in yesterday and needs help sorting them, so I'm gong to stay after work to help her with them and we'll be ordering a pizza for dinner." Ann told Zoc as she grabbed her umbrella and car keys to leave for work.

"Alright, I have some things I've been meaning to do to help with the preparations for moving the colony and with this storm I'm sure there are going to be areas where the workers will need help repairing leaks, so if I'm not here when you get back that's where I'll be." Zoc replied, pulling her into his arms and giving her a long passionate kiss, "I'll see you later, have fun."

"Thanks, I'm sure we will." she said returning the kiss, "Love you." she said as she reluctantly slipped out of his arms.

"I love you too." he replied then headed to the basement.

Ann had just put her purse in the car and was about to get in when a large van pulled into the driveway.

"Can I help you?" she asked the man who was driving.

"Yes, I believe you can." he replied as three more men jumped out of the back of the van and grabbed her, one of them pulling out a syringe and injecting her with something as they pulled her inside the van.

Ann continued to struggle as she felt herself becoming dizzy and tired as the van quickly pulled out and continued fighting until she finally lost consciousness.

It had been nearly three hours since Ann had left and Zoc was in the middle of discussing the plans for moving the colony with the council when an ant ran in to the room.

"Zoc, there's a wasp outside, he says some men took Ann." the ant panted as he tried to catch his breath.

The color drained from Zoc's face as his heart seemed to stop, the papers he had been showing the council slipping out of his hands to land on the floor, "Where is the wasp?" he asked, voice laced with panic.

"He's waiting at the main entrance." the ant replied, barely finishing before Zoc flew out the door.

When Zoc reached the entrance he quickly ran down to where the wasp was waiting under the edge of the grass to avoid the pouring rain.

"What happened?" Zoc asked.

"I was caught out in the rain and was waiting for it to pass on the porch when she came out. A black van pulled into the driveway and the man inside was talking to her, then three men jumped out of the back and dragged her in. I followed them and managed to catch up with them at the stop sign and stayed on the top of the van until they pulled into a large building and took her somewhere in the building. She was unconscious, but didn't look hurt." the wasp explained.

"Can you take me there?" Zoc asked.

"Yes." the wasp replied, kneeling to allow Zoc to climb onto his back.

They took off, flying as fast as the wasp could, but the harsh winds and rain from the storm were making it extremely difficult to fly.

About three hours later the wasp landed in some bushes in front of a large, old abandoned looking warehouse.

"Stay here, I don't intend on taking long." Zoc said as he got off then made himself bigger.

"You're going in like that, isn't that dangerous?" the wasp asked.

"Possibly, but it's also faster and hopefully more intimidating if it comes down to a confrontation. Not to mention safer to get to the building with this rain." Zoc said as it began to poor harder and lighting streaked across the sky.

Once inside Zoc began searching the building as quickly and silently as possible, starting with the first floor, then moving on to the floors above that when he found no sign of them. With each large floor with at least a dozen or more rooms to search he became more and more impatient as it seemed to take forever to finish searching each floor, each second that passed making him worry more and more about what could be happening to Ann.

Ann woke up to a loud crack of thunder, feeling groggy and disoriented. When she finally opened her eyes she found herself laying on a cot in a small room with no windows. She hesitantly got to her feet, leaning against the wall for a moment as a wave a dizziness hit her. Once she was sure she wouldn't wind up on the floor she walked over to the door and tried the handle, as she had suspected it was locked.

She walked back over to the cot and sat down, wondering who would have kidnapped her and why they would want her. Maybe they were going to hold her hostage and demand that they be given some of the money from the stuff out of the safe, she couldn't think of any other reason she would have been taken and locked up like this. Hopefully if she was being held for ransom that meant who ever had taken her wouldn't hurt her. So far the only damage she had suffered was a rather sore area on the inside of her elbow where it looked like someone had drawn blood or injected something and the sore spot on her shoulder where they had injected her with some type of sedative.

She glanced up at the door considering trying to use her ring to get out, but without knowing what was on the other side that could just get her killed. As long as she wasn't in any immediate danger she decided it was better to wait until she knew more about he captors than take unnecessary risks. She turned the stone on the ring so that it was to the inside of her hand, if the people who had taken her were after money and hadn't noticed her ring yet, she certainly didn't want to take any chance of giving them another chance to notice it. She just hoped that they wouldn't care about it if it just looked like a simple gold band.

Ann wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there, it didn't seem like too long, but the last effects of the tranquilizers seemed to have fully warn off. She was just considering pounding on the door and demanding to be told what was going on when the door opened and three men in black business suits stepped in.

"What is going on here?" Ann demanded.

"We'll be the ones asking the questions here." the one man told her as they all three started to walk towards her.

"What do you want?" Ann asked taking a step back.

"We just want to know where the ants are and what you know about them." he replied as they cornered her.

"What are you talking about there are ants everywhere?" Ann asked closing her fist tightly around her ring and pulling away when one of the men tried to grab her arm. When she realized she had no way to avoid the men she did the only thing she could think of that wouldn't involve them finding out about her ring. She took a half step forward and then rammed her knee up between the man's legs who had been standing directly in front of her. When he doubled over in pain she shoved him to the ground and jumped over him, making a run for the door. She froze when another man with a gun stepped into the doorway to block her escape. That moment of distraction was all the other two men needed to grab her and get a pair of handcuffs on her.

The man she had kneed between the legs stepped up to her, "You are going to regret that." he said and pulled his fist back and swung it at her stomach.

She braced herself fully expecting to end up with a couple broken ribs, but the man with the gun stepped forward and caught his fist before he managed to hit her, "There are better ways to make her suffer, anyways she's not to be hurt, she's too valuable of a specimen." he told him.

"What do you mean specimen?" Ann demanded as she was lead out of the room.

"Well you are rather unique, we've never seen a human with such a high concentration of the mutagenic chemicals in their blood or with such incredible side effects from those chemicals, not even the people who worked directly with the chemicals or the ants." the man told her as they forced her into a chair at a table in the middle of a large room with various lab equipment set up on a few tables along one wall. "Now let me introduce myself, I'm agent Brown and this is agent Smith, agent Jones and agent Walker" he said indicating each of the men and ending with the one she had kneed between the legs, who, to Ann's satisfaction, still looked like he was in a great deal of pain.

"And don't try to lie your way out of this, we know that you know about the ants." he added pulling a pile of pictures out of an envelope and dropping them on the table in front of her.

Ann had to fight back a shocked and horrified gasp when she realized they were pictures of Zoc and her from when they had snuck into the records under the Lincoln Memorial, all from rooms where they had thought there hadn't been security cameras.

"Now tell us where they are and don't lie to us this time." agent Walker said.

"Why? So you can try to murder them again?" Ann demanded.

"They're a bunch of monstrous insects that need to be exterminated." argent Walker replied, "Now where are they?"

Ann very calmly looked him in the eye and said, "Go to hell." then added, "Anything as evil as you are should feel right at home there."

"She is not to be hurt." agent Brown reminded when agent Walker started towards Ann, looking ready to kill someone.

"Why not? Just because she's spent enough time around those freaks that she has absorbed some of the chemicals? We know perfectly well that they would effect even a child who played in the dirt a lot in that area and we know that they were altering her size when they broke in. She's probably just been in their nest and been exposed to larger amounts of the chemicals that way." agent Walker said.

"If that were all it was, the concentration wouldn't be so high, it might reach the level that was seen in the scientists who worked with the chemicals and ants on a daily basis, but it wouldn't exceed that, certainly not to the level that we're seeing in the blood tests, not even the concentration of the chemicals in the scientist who accidentally got them directly on his bare skin were this high." Agent Brown replied.

"Well how else could she have absorbed it? For a higher concentration she practically would have to have been injected with the full strength chemicals." agent Smith asked.

"Not necessarily, there is one other source of the chemicals, the ants themselves produce them." agent Brown replied.

"But how could she have absorbed this much?" agent Jones asked from where he was standing by the lab equipment looking over some papers, "Concentrations and genetic altering like this would require not just exposure to high amounts of the chemicals, but also repeated exposure to it over at least several months. It would also have to be absorbed internally not just by getting their blood against her skin, maybe getting it on an opened wound, but even that would have to happen repeatedly which seems highly unlikely."

"The chemicals wouldn't only be concentrated in their blood, similar concentrations would also be found in other bodily fluids." agent Brown replied.

"So what, you think she's having sex with one of the ants?" agent Walker asked sarcastically.

Ann grimaced inwardly, "_So much for not letting them find out about Zoc and I." _she thought, then again if it was keeping them from torturing her for information maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

"Exactly, there's no doubt in my mind that that's exactly what she's been doing." Agent Brown replied.

"That's disgusting, how could they even do that?" agent Walker asked sounding quite disturbed by the idea.

"Well at first it seems a little complicated and takes some experimenting, but once you figure out what your doing the sex is so incredible it's mind-blowing." Ann said fighting back a smirk when all four men looked highly disturbed by her comment.

"Why exactly can't we just kill her, put her on ice and send her back to the main lab? She's a disgusting, twisted thing that shouldn't be allowed to live." agent Walker said.

"Because scientifically she's worth more alive than dead." agent Brown replied.

"Why, we can do any additional testing on the effects of the chemicals on her body if she's dead, we can't exactly get inside of her to see if there have been any physical changes if she's still alive." agent Jones said.

"Check out page three of that report." agent Brown said.

Agent Jones flipped the page and started reading, a second later his eyes widened, "You've got to be kidding me, that is impossible!" he said.

"Apparently it's not, most likely due to the effects of the chemicals on her DNA." agent Brown replied.

"What are you two talking about?" agent Smith asked.

"She's pregnant." agent Jones replied.

"What!" was the instant response from agents Smith and Walker.

Ann sat there too stunned to really listen to what the men were saying after hearing that. She was pregnant, something she had dreamt about, but had been so sure was impossible, even Zoc had admitted that it was. She couldn't help smiling, wondering how he would react when she told him. She was pulled from her thoughts when she heard one of the men say something about the baby only having a slim chance of surviving.

"Even if it doesn't survive, this is a major scientific break through." agent Jones was saying, "and if it does survive, well who knows what could happen then, it could be born so disfigured it can't function or if we're lucky look human, but have the strength or tough hide of an ant. In which case we could clone it, keep the original for dissection and grow an entire army of incredibly strong, hard to kill soldiers."

Ann felt her heart stop, there was no way anyone was going to hurt or dissect her baby, she wouldn't allow it, no matter what it took.

"Have you notified the main headquarters about this?" agent Walker asked.

"No, not yet, the storm took out our secure line and this is too delicate of a situation to risk regular communications." agent Brown said.

"_Perfect." _Ann thought, "Aww, you poor things, such big news and you haven't been able to share it with anyone but each other." she said slowly using her ring to unlock the hand cuffs.

"Not yet, but it shouldn't take long for our communications to be back up and running and then we'll have a helicopter brought in and get you back to the main lab." Brown said.

"Yeah, and then you and your little freak can spend the rest of your lives in a nice little cell. Well whatever the rest of your life consists of, not sure what they'll do with you, but one way or another your little freak will end up on the dissection table." agent Walker told her.

"Over my dead body." Ann replied calmly.

"Oh yeah, and how are you going to stop us?" he asked.

"Like this." Ann replied suddenly bring her hands around in front of her and aiming a large blast of magical energy at him.

He managed to doge the blast, but it hit the lab equipment, causing a large explosion and shooting shards of glass all over the room and into the men who had been standing near it.

"How the hell did she do that?" she heard agent Smith demand as she ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her and magically expanding the wood so that it wouldn't open, then ran down the hallway, praying that she wouldn't run into any other people. As she ran around a corner she slammed into someone hard enough to knock her backwards. She jumped back to her feet, ready to blast who ever it was, then stopped as soon as she realize who it was. "Oh Zoc, what are you doing here?" she asked as she threw her arms around his neck.

"Well I was going to rescue you, but it looks like you've already done that yourself. Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine. How did you find me?" she asked, then said, "Never mind, you can tell me later we have to get out of here, now!"

"Of course," he said reluctantly letting her go, "The way out is this way." he told her as he lead her through the hallways.

Once they got outside Ann found that from the outside the building she had been in looked like nothing more than an old abandoned warehouse.

They had only gotten fifteen yards from the building when she heard one of the men yell at them to stop. They turned to see all four men coming out of the building carrying large guns.

For a split second Ann wasn't sure what to do, until she thought of the baby, there was no choice, there was only one way to protect it and that was to destroy all evidence of it's existence before anyone else could find out.

She fired a large explosion several feet in front of the four men, causing them to retreat back into the building for a moment, then she stepped back until her back touched Zoc's chest.

"Ann we need to get out of here, what are you doing?" Zoc asked as he tried to move towards where the wasp was waiting, but she didn't budge.

"What has to be done to protect my family." Ann replied taking his hand in hers, knowing that she wouldn't be able to muster the magical strength for what needed to be done. With the other hand she aimed her ring at the building and let loose a massive amount of magical energy right into the doorway where the men had run, not that it would have mattered where in the building they were. The entire building was instantly engulfed in the explosion, when the initial fire ball dissipated all that was left was a pile of burning ruble, where the large metal support beams still poked through the ruble, they glowed a bright orange from the heat of the explosion, heat that would have destroyed every computer, paper or piece of lab equipment that could have given any hint at what had happened or been discovered.

"Ann." Zoc breathed, obviously in a state of shock over what she had done.

"There was no other choice, they were from the government, if they had been allowed to live to contact anyone else we all would have been put at risk, we still might but hopefully this lessens it a little." Ann replied turning and burying her face against Zoc's chest and finally letting the stress and fear out as she silently started to cry.

"It's okay, you're safe now." Zoc said wrapping his arms around her to comfort and try to warm her as she began to shiver from the cold rain. After a moment he shrunk them and they ran under the bush where the wasp was waiting.

As soon as the rain let up enough they headed home.

By the time they got back to the house they were both shivering from the rain and cool wind. As soon as they got inside Zoc started to run a hot bath and started to help Ann get her wet clothes off, as her hands were shaking too baldy to do it herself.

"I n-need to call Elnora and let her know why I didn't come in to work today." she protested.

"You couldn't dial the phone with your hands shaking so badly anyways, I'll call her as soon as you're warming up." Zoc told her.

"Al- alright." Ann relented as she slipped into the warm water.

Ann laid there, her mind racing, she should tell Zoc about what the men had said, but what if they were wrong or what if they had been lying? Maybe they had said all of that with the intention of making her think she was pregnant and then would have offered her, her freedom if she had told them how to find the ants. She had spent so long sure that there was no way she would ever be able to have children with Zoc that she just couldn't believe it and if they had been wrong or lying and she told Zoc he would be heart broken when they found out. Mary was moving back in just a couple days to set up her office, she would be able to confirm without any doubt if what the men had said was true, then when she was sure she would tell Zoc.


	4. Chapter 4

It's hard to believe it's been four years since I started posting Nothing Is Impossible on , the first chapter was posted on June 26, 2007. It was the first story I ever wrote so to celebrate I decided to get another chapter posted and try a couple other things for the first time, drawing a CG character and one of my OCs, unfortunately because of not deciding to do the picture until a few days ago and having to get ready for a community yard sale this weekend I didn't get it finished yet, but I should have it done in the next couple of days. So check my Deviantart page soon for a picture of Ann and Zoc.

* * *

After hearing about what had happened Elnora insisted that Ann take a day off to rest and relax. The last thing Ann wanted was time to worry about what the men had said, so she insisted that she and Zoc head out to work on the house.

"Are you sure you don't want to just take the day off and relax?" Zoc asked, "Elnora's right, after everything that happened yesterday wouldn't it be a good idea just to de-stress a bit?"

"No, because you're right, it was stressful and if I sit around relaxing that'll just give me more time to think about it and get even more stressed out. I need distraction, not time to sit and think, anyways, we need to get the colony moved as quickly as possible. What if the government just decides to higher an exterminator to come out and wipe out every bug in the entire neighborhood just to be sure they get your colony. We have to get out of there as soon as possible." Ann told him.

"Alright, I guess you're right, but they'll still be able to find you." Zoc replied.

"As long as I'm careful I'll be fine, if they try anything in public they wouldn't want to make a scene and have people asking questions so, now that I'd be expecting them to try something, the magic I can do should be enough to get them to back off. If they show up out here I've got you and we know that they wouldn't stand a chance against you or both of us. So I just keep practicing and avoid going anywhere alone that there wouldn't be other people around and I should be fine." Ann told him.

"What if they do manage to catch you somewhere alone, where they wouldn't have to worry about other people seeing them?" Zoc asked.

"Then there also wouldn't be any witnesses if I blasted a hole through them." Ann replied.

"You'd really be able to kill someone, not just from a distance, but face to face, you really think you could do that?" Zoc asked.

"To protect myself or my family, absolutely." Ann replied with enough certainty to eliminate any doubt.

"Alright," Zoc said pulling her into his arms, "I just don't want to risk losing you." he told her as he gently kissed her forehead.

"I promise, I'll always be careful." Ann replied, "Now we need to get to work."

"Right, just have to get the living room, dinning room and library painted and get the carpets put in those rooms." Zoc said.

"Yeah," Ann said hesitating a moment and trying to think, what was it she had heard about pregnant women and paint fumes, if she really was pregnant she didn't want to take any chances, "Actually if you don't mind I'm getting kind of tired of painting and you're faster at it anyways, so I'll start putting the contact paper down in the kitchen cupboards while you finish up the painting." she suggested.

"You need to keep practicing with the crystal though." Zoc replied.

"We could do some lessons later, maybe something more useful for self defense than just levitating a paint brush." Ann suggested.

"Okay, you're right, some more specialized defense training would be a good idea." Zoc agreed.

The next morning Mary called to let Ann know she was in town.

"I'm going to go help Mary unpack." Ann told Zoc as soon as she got off the phone.

"Oh, okay, any idea when you'll get home?" Zoc asked sounding a little disappointed that she was leaving.

"Probably not until after dinner time, she said maybe we could order something for dinner or go out. Why? Did you have something planned?" Ann asked.

"Sort of, but don't worry about, go ahead and have your dinner and if you don't get home early enough for us to head out to the house for a while we can do it tomorrow." Zoc replied.

"Alright, I'll be home as soon after dinner as I can." Ann told him, giving him a quick kiss before leaving.

So how are things going with the moving and unpacking?" Ann asked when she got to Mary's house a short while later.

"Okay, I can't find anything I need, but that's keeping me motivated to keep unpacking until I find the stuff." Mary told her.

"And the wedding planning?" Ann asked.

Mary grinned, "It's a pain, but kind of fun too, I'm just glad I'll have you around to help me hammer out the finale details. So how have you and Zoc been? You enjoying being married?" she asked.

" Oh yes, I'm thoroughly enjoying it and we've been doing wonderfully." she replied smiling until she thought of the other day.

"What is it?" Mary asked, instantly noticing the change.

"Well, everything had been going great until I was kidnapped a couple days ago." Ann replied.

"Kidnapped!" Mary asked in shock, "Why didn't you call and tell me? Are you alright, were you hurt?"

"I'm- well I'm not hurt, I'm scared to death that they might send someone else after us though." Ann told her.

"Who will send someone else?" Mary asked.

"The government, they know about my being involved with the ants, they know that I was the one who broke into the archives under the Lincoln memorial and they know that Zoc and I are married. Luckily I don't think that last bit of information got any farther then the four men who kidnapped me." Ann explained.

"Oh no, this isn't good. If someone knew about you and Zoc what makes you think they wouldn't have told anyone?" Mary asked.

"Did you hear about the explosion at the warehouse at the edge of town?" Ann asked.

"The one that has the police totally confused because they can't figure out what could have caused an explosion hot enough to leave behind nothing but a melted pile of support beams?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, that's why, the men who kidnapped me were in that building." Ann told her.

"Oh my gosh, I knew Zoc was kind of protective of you, but to take out four men and an entire building like?" Mary asked in shock.

"Zoc didn't do it, I did." Ann replied earning a stunned look from Mary.

"You- you did that, why cause that much destruction? I didn't think you were that powerful." Mary asked.

"Zoc had come to rescue me and as long as I'm touching him, I can tap into his power and use it. I just had to make sure there was no chance of any evidence being left if what the men said is true." Ann told her.

"If what is true?" Mary asked.

"They said, that I'm pregnant." Ann replied.

"But that's impossible, isn't it?" Mary asked.

"I thought it was, but the way they explained made sense too, but I don't know, maybe they were lying. Maybe they thought if they convinced me that I was pregnant and then threatened the baby they could get me to tell them where the ants were if they offered to let me and the baby go or something." Ann replied.

"Have you tried a home pregnancy test?" Mary asked.

"No, I figured the tests you could do would be more accurate and I didn't want to have to worry about sneaking one into the house, I don't want Zoc to know until there's no doubt if it's true or not." Ann told her.

"Don't want to get his hopes or your's up if they were wrong?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, and I just, I can't believe it, can't accept it could be true after being so sure it wasn't possible, I just keep thinking they had to have been wrong." Ann replied.

"Okay, well then we're going to my office, it's not officially open yet, but all the supplies are there to confirm if this is true or not." Mary said getting up from where she had been sitting and grabbing her car keys, "and on the way you're going to tell me everything these guys said about how you could possibly have ended up pregnant."

"Okay." Ann replied as they headed to the car.

A short while later they arrived at Mary's office, "I'm going to take two blood samples, one for the pregnancy test and one to check to see if what they said about the chemicals is true." Mary told Ann as she prepared to take the blood samples.

"Okay. How long will it take to get the results?" Ann asked.

"Usually a day or two, but John started work yesterday, so if he doesn't have too much work to do he should be able to sneak in checking these for us today and I should be able to let you know when he get's off from work." Mary replied.

"Sounds good to me." Ann replied.

As soon as Mary had the blood samples she called John and arranged to meet him over his lunch hour to give them to him and to explain what was going on.

After they had dropped off the samples Ann spent the rest of the day helping Mary unpack until John showed up that evening.

"Did you get the tests done?" Mary asked running over to John as soon as he stepped through the door.

"Of course." he replied handing her one of two envelopes.

Mary quickly opened it and stood there for a minute reading over it.

"Well?" Ann asked impatiently hoping for a confirmation that she really was pregnant, but at the same time not really expecting it.

"You complained that you and Zoc didn't get a lot of alone time together during your trip to Egypt a month ago didn't you?" Mary asked.

"Yes, only once actually, why?" Ann asked.

"When you said he snuck you inside the pyramid?" Mary asked.

"Yes, Mary, why?" Ann asked impatiently.

"I've just heard some interesting 'where the kid was conceived' stories while I was doing my internship, but this is probably the only kid who's been conceived inside a hidden chamber in a pyramid." Mary told her grinning.

"I'm pregnant? I'm really pregnant?" Ann asked in shocked disbelief suddenly grateful she was standing close to a wall as she leaned back against it.

"Yep, congratulations." Mary said grinning.

Ann hugged her, "I guess you get to be my doctor after all." she said.

"Yep, and you even get to be my first patient." Mary said happily, then turned to John, "What about the other test?" she asked him.

"Those guys must have been right, when we did the blood tests on Lucas to see how the potion effected him I noticed small amounts of a chemical I couldn't identify and some almost unnoticeable alterations to his DNA. The samples from Ann have a much larger concentration of the chemical as well as quite a bit of altering to her DNA." John replied.

"Well I guess those guys weren't lying to you about that." Mary said, "Now we need to have a talk about some restrictions, even though your DNA has been changed to allow you to become pregnant, I'm going to treat this as a rather delicate pregnancy." Mary told her, "First of all, no more sex."

"What? But-" Ann started.

"The sex itself wouldn't be a problem, but I'm worried about the effect the shaping shifting could have on the baby." Mary explained.

Ann let out a sigh of resignation, "Oh alright." she relented.

"Actually there maybe just as much of a risk from not having sex as there is from the shape shifting. The effects of the chemicals could be based on the amount of them that are in her system, so if the amount being introduced to her body decreases it could effect the baby as well. I'd suggest doing blood tests to check the chemical levels at least once a week, until we know for sure." John told them.

"Great, I get to be a pin cushion." Ann said.

"Don't worry I'll try to make it as painless as possible." Mary told her then turned to John, "Now, dear, would you please go pick us up some pizza for dinner while Ann and I discus pregnancy and such?"

"Sure, I'll be back in a while." John said giving Mary a quick kiss before heading towards the door.

"Try not to take too long though, Zoc wanted to go out to the house for a while this evening, he had something planned, but I'm not sure what exactly." Ann said.

"No problem." John replied before leaving.

"Poor Zoc." Mary said.

"Why?" Ann asked.

"He probably had plans that I'm totally ruining by saying you shouldn't be shape shifting." Mary replied.

"I'm sure he won't mind once he finds out why." Ann replied.

When Ann got home that evening Zoc was in the library looking through the books.

"What are you looking for?" Ann asked trying not to laugh when he jumped and spun to face her like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.

"Uh, just looking for something to read, I wasn't sure how soon you'd be home." he replied, "So do you need anything here or are you ready to go out to the house?" he asked.

"I'm ready to go." Ann replied unable to wait any longer to tell him about the baby, but making herself wait, she wanted to tell him at their house.

When they got to the house Ann was surprised to find all of the painting had been finished and the new carpets put in.

"When did you do all this?" Ann asked.

"Today, while you were helping Mary, you didn't really seem too excited about doing the painting and I know you want to get moved as soon as possible so I finished it. We can start moving the rest of the furniture and the colony out here tomorrow." Zoc told her as they walked through the house so she could see what all he had gotten done.

"The rest of the furniture?" Ann asked.

"Yes, since everything is ready I shrunk some of the furniture enough to fit it in Elnora's car and we brought it over." he told her as he opened their bedroom door, reveling that all of their bedroom furniture had been brought over and set up.

"This is great." Ann said as she walked into the room then out onto the balcony, "Let's go watch the sun set." she said grabbing his hand as she headed back outside.

Ann walked out into an area where part of the large yard had become overgrown with wild flowers and laid down on her back staring up at the sky as the sunset and the first stars started to come into view. "It's so beautiful out here." she said as Zoc sat down next to her.

"Yes it is, beautiful and peaceful." Zoc replied.

"There's something I need to tell you." they both said at the same time, then laughed.

"You first." Ann replied, "You'd probably forget whatever you need to tell me if I went first."

"I was just thinking the same thing about what I have to tell you." Zoc replied.

"Trust me, you go first." Ann told him.

"Alright." Zoc replied sounding almost nervous.

Ann grinned at him, "You sound nervous, what is it you have to tell me?" she asked.

"More show you than tell you actually." Zoc replied.

He removed the potion from his staff that Ann had assumed was the one to turn her into an ant since he usually had one with him since they had gotten married. She was shocked when he drank it and sat up quickly as she watched the potion take effect. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock as she watched him change into a skinny but nicely muscled human man, very much Native American in appearance except for his eyes which remained blue, he had a very handsome face and long black hair. Some small part of her mind thought it made perfect sense that he would look Native American, considering the original species of ants his people had been mutated from were an American species, but that thought was quickly pushed to the back of her mind as she looked him over.

Finally after a long moment she asked, "What did you do, get inside my head and find out what I like as far as appearance goes in human men and some how make the potion make you look like that?"

"No, I have no control over what the potion makes me look like. You like it, you really think I look alright." Zoc asked.

"Alright? No not alright. You look absolutely gorgeous, like someone off of the cover of a romance novel. It's like your outer appearance is trying to match your perfect personality. You're perfect, I must be the luckiest woman on earth." Ann said grinning as she ran her hands over his arms, chest and then up to his face, "You look more wonderful than anything I ever could have imagined." she said before kissing him.

After a moment she stopped, "There is one problem." she said.

"What is it? Did the potion not change something right?" Zoc asked concerned.

"No, no the potion seems to have made you perfectly human, maybe a little too human though." Ann said.

"What do you mean?" Zoc asked.

"I miss your antennas touching me when we kiss." Ann replied, "Otherwise though it's perfect." she told him as she kissed him again.

After a long while Ann pulled back, "Maybe we should head inside, it's starting to get a little cold out, especially for you being naked." she said unable to keep her eyes from wandering over him, trying to take in every detail she could in the diminishing light, "Plus I can enjoy the view more inside with some lights on. Or maybe we could think if something even more fun to do." she said grinning mischievously at him.

"Um, about that." Zoc said sounding a little uncertain, "I have absolutely no clue how humans do that."

Ann grinned at him, "Hmm, so it's my turn to be the teacher." she said as they got up and headed into the house.

"Yes, I only hope I'm as good a student as you were." Zoc replied still sounding nervous.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." Ann replied.

Ann smiled contently when she woke up the next morning to find the potion had worn off and Zoc was back to normal. She certainly enjoyed the nicely muscled arms and chest, broad shoulders and appearance that she could happily spend all day staring at, but there were also things that she had gotten use to that she had missed especially the gentle caressing of his antennas.

His timing couldn't have been more perfect for getting the potion to work, although he had been right, it did completely distract her from what she was going to tell him.

Ann started to gently trail her finger over the patterning on Zoc's chest, then after a moment when that didn't seem to wake him she leaned up and began trailing kisses over his antennas until she noticed him starting to smile slightly. "So you are awake." she said.

Zoc opened one eye just long enough to glance at the clock next to the bed, "No I'm not." he mumbled to her.

"But I want you to wake up." Ann said running a finger up and down his antenna.

"It's not even five thirty yet, why are you even awake." Zoc asked.

"Because you were right and I forgot to tell you what I wanted to last night." Ann told him.

"It can wait a couple more hours, can't it?" Zoc asked.

"No, I can't sleep now until I tell you." Ann replied slowly running her foot over the end of Zoc's abdomen until she found a spot she knew was sensitive and applied just enough pressure to earn a gasp from Zoc as his eyes shot open.

"Now you're playing dirty, that's entirely unfair." Zoc said suddenly rolling over and pinning her under him.

"Well I had to find some way to wake you up." she replied, grinning up at him, "Did you bring any more of the new potion with you? I could always make it up to you for waking you up like that if you did. After I tell you what I need to."

"No, but there are a couple of the other one here." Zoc told her.

"That's kind of what I needed to talk to you about, we're not going to be able to use that one for a while." Ann said.

"Why not?" Zoc asked sounding a little confused.

"Well you know how I've been kind of distracted since I was kidnapped?" Ann asked.

"Yes." Zoc replied.

"Well it's because they did some blood tests on me and told me something and I didn't really believe them until Mary was able to confirm it and once she did she said it wouldn't be a good idea for me to be shape shifting for a while." Ann told him.

"Why, what did they tell you?" Zoc asked.

"Well it turns out you've sort of been pumping me full of those chemicals that were used to mutate your ancestors and it's caused some pretty big changes to my own DNA-"

"Has it hurt you in some way? You should have told me sooner." Zoc interrupted.

"No, no it hasn't hurt me, it hasn't done anything bad." Ann assured him, "In fact I'd say what it has done, what it's made possible is amazingly wonderful." she said smiling at him, "Zoc, I'm pregnant."

Zoc's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open for a moment, "You- you're pregnant? You're sure? But that's impossible."

"Didn't you say every time you admit that something is impossible you're proven wrong?" Ann asked.

"Yes, but- but, you're sure?" he asked.

"Positive, Mary did the tests yesterday," Ann grinned at him, "and based on what the tests indicate we got more than just souvenirs while we were in Egypt, our night in the pyramid was more special than either of us realized." Ann told him.

"We're having a baby, we're really having a baby?" Zoc said grinning.

"Yes." Ann said smiling as Zoc gently trailed kisses from her lips down her chest to her stomach, causing her to squirm a little as his antennas gently stroked and tickled her sides.

"Now, I want you to come out of there strong and healthy." he said kissing her stomach one last time before moving back up to pull Ann into a long passionate kiss.

As they stopped and sat up Ann reluctantly said, "Zoc, there's still a chance that it may not survive the pregnancy."

"I know, but we also can't spend every moment worrying about whether or not it'll live, all we can do is love it as much as possible for as long as we have it and pray that that will be for a good long time." Zoc said taking Ann's hand in his, "Whatever happens we still have each other and as long as we're together we can get through anything." he told her gently kissing her hand, "But I can't help feeling that if it was allowed to come into existence against such overwhelming odds that it wouldn't simply die before having a chance to truly live."

"I hope you're right." Ann replied as Zoc gently pulled her into his arms and held her for a while until she yawned.

"You should get some more sleep, it's far too early for you to be awake after as late as we got to sleep last night." Zoc told her.

"You're probably right." Ann replied as they laid back down and she curled up with her head on Zoc's chest and his arms wrapped around her, both of them falling back to sleep within minutes.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter was written back in 2009 for my first NaNoWriMo so I was going on little or no sleep and massive amounts of caffeine and sugar, so it get's a little crazy, but it's just too much fun not to leave the craziness in.

* * *

Ann woke up a couple of hours later and gently started trailing her fingers over Zoc's antennas, "You just don't know how to sleep in do you?" he finally asked without bothering to open his eyes.

"Sure I do, I'm just not tired. Do you have any more of that potion made back at the house?" she asked.

"Yes, but don't you think we should get some packing done and maybe get some more sleep before we worry about using it again?" Zoc asked.

"You mean before we spend another couple of hours having incredible sex?" Ann asked.

"Exactly." Zoc replied.

"Probably, but that's not really what I wanted it for, I thought it would be fun to go show Mary what an incredibly hot and sexy human you turn into." Ann replied then grinned mischievously, "Of course if we get home before the potion wears off there might be time for some more fun before we start packing."

"I'm really that good looking as a human?" Zoc asked.

"Even better than the guys I use to drool over at powwows." Ann told him as a grin spread across her face.

"What are you plotting?" he asked.

"I was just thinking how absolutely amazing you would look in full Native American regalia or maybe just in a loincloth, dancing at a powwow." Ann replied.

"You actually expect me to go out around other humans?" Zoc asked sounding nervous about the idea.

"I'm sure you'll do fine and it doesn't have to be right away, we can start out just hanging out with Mary and John, maybe go to a movie or something to get you use to being around humans more and then go from there. I did alright getting use to being around the rest of the colony." Ann said.

"You didn't have to worry about trying to pretend to be something you weren't." Zoc pointed out.

"True, we'll take it one step at a time. First thing is going to be shopping, as much fun as you are to stare at, you really need some cloths if anyone else is going to be seeing you." Ann told him.

Once they had gotten back to the other house Ann dug out a box of her father's old clothes while Zoc got another one of the potions to make himself human.

"It's such a shame to cover up such a wonderful body." Ann said as she watched Zoc get dressed, "All those times undressing me must have gotten you used to human clothing, you're doing quite well." she told him.

"I'm not so sure about that, how do you get these things to stay up?" he asked holding up the pants he had put on but kept starting to slip down.

Ann grabbed a belt, walked over to him and started putting it through the belt loops, "They're just too big for you, we'll get you some that fit right after we go see Mary." Ann told him as she stepped back to look at him, "You can't be carrying that around with you when we go out." she told him when he reached for his staff that had been leaning against the wall.

"What, why not?" Zoc asked.

"People just don't walk around with stuff like that, not to mention if the government has anyone watching me they'll recognize it from the pictures they got of us. The last thing we need them knowing is that you can make yourself look human." Ann told him, "Just a minute I have an idea so you'll be able to take it with you, but keep it out of sight." she said as she started looking through a large jewelry box until she pulled out a small deer skin medicine bag, "You can shrink it and put it in here." she told him as she put it around his neck.

"Alright." Zoc agreed.

"Now off to see Mary." Ann said as they headed downstairs.

Ann knocked at Mary's door and waited impatiently for her to answer.

When Mary finally opened the door she smiled, "Ann what ar-" she stopped when she noticed Zoc, "Who is this?" she asked.

"This, is the perfectly timed solution to that whole thing about me not being able to shape shift for eight months." Ann replied.

"What on earth are you talking about, how could this guy have anything to do with tha-" she stopped when her eyes met Zoc's crystal blue eyes, "Z- Zoc?" she asked in amassment.

"Yes." Zoc replied.

"You finally got that second potion to work, I take it?" she said.

"Yep, he did and I personally think it worked quite well." Ann said grinning.

"It certainly did," Mary replied as she looked him over, "Wow, you'd better keep an eye on him if you take him out in public, you'll have every single woman in town drooling over him."

"Speaking of taking him out in public, do you want to come help me keep all the single women away from him while we get him some clothes that fit?" Ann asked.

Mary grinned, "Oh this sounds like fun, I wouldn't miss it, let me grab my purse and then we can go play dress up with him." she replied.

Half an hour later they arrived at a large mall.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Zoc asked nervously as he looked around at all the humans entering and leaving the building.

"You'll be fine." Ann assured him wrapping an arm around his.

"Just stay close to us and do exactly what we tell you to." Mary added sharing a conspiratorial grin with Ann as she took his other arm then she and Ann half lead and half dragged him into the building.

Zoc did as they told him, not letting go of Ann's arm as they made their way through the crowded mall and into a men's clothing store.

"Let's see what would you look good in?" Mary said as she glanced around the store.

"A loincloth and nothing else, but that wouldn't work well for going out in public." Ann replied grinning.

"What about these?" Ann asked a few minutes later, holding up a pair of blue jeans and a red plaid, button front shirt.

"Those look good." Mary replied.

"Here, go in that little room over there and try these on, then come out and let us see how they fit." Ann told Zoc as she handed him the clothes and pointed him towards the dressing rooms.

Several minutes later Zoc stepped out of the dressing room, "Turn around so we can see how it fits." Ann told him and he complied.

"I think the pants are a little tight, but that could work for him, he does have a nice backside." Mary commented.

"Oh yes, it is very nice." Ann agreed then grabbed a different pair of blue jeans and handed them to him, "See if these fit a little better." she told him.

Once they figured out what size he wore they had him try on a couple more outfits before settling on the first one and a pair of nice black jeans with a forest green button front shirt.

"Are you sure that's all the clothes he'll need?" Mary asked.

"Considering the main reason he'd look like this in the first place? I don't think he'll need a lot of clothes." Ann pointed out.

"Oh yeah, good point." Mary replied.

"There are a couple of other things I thought we could check out before we leave though." Ann said.

"We're not done yet?" Zoc asked sounding quite ready to get out of the busy mall.

"Not quite, but why don't we head over to the food court and grab some lunch first" Ann suggested.

"Good idea, I could use some sugar." Mary agreed.

A few cheese burgers, extra large Pepsis, ice creams and a short walk later they walked into a costume shop.

"What are we looking for here?" Mary asked.

"We're just going to see how a few things look on him." Ann said as she began looking through the costumes and pulled out a couple for Zoc to try on.

An hour and an American Revolution soldier, Civil War officer, Tarzan and clown costume later, the last two having been chosen by Mary, Zoc asked, "Are you done torturing me yet?"

"One more." Ann said handing him another costume to try on.

"Why are we doing this if we're not going to actually buy anything?" Zoc asked as he reluctantly took the costume from her.

"Because I need to figure out what looks good on you so I can go home and make you some more clothes. Although I think we'll stick with just a loin cloth for around the house. " Ann said as she pushed him into the dressing room.

"Not to mention it's insanely fun." Mary said looking through the pictures she'd been taking on her digital camera.

"You will send me copies of all of those right?" Ann asked.

"Of course, I think we should have a nice eight by ten made of this one for you to hang on your wall at home." Mary said showing her the one of Zoc in the clown costume.

"Oh if I'm going to get a picture of him to hang on the wall I have something much better in mind for him to wear." Ann told her.

"And what would that be?" Mary asked.

"You'll see." Ann replied as Zoc stepped out of the dressing room.

Ann walked around him inspecting the costume then stopped and lifted the back of it enough to see under it.

"So what's under it?" Mary asked.

"Do you want the long version or the longer version?" Ann asked before they both broke down into a fit of giggles.

"What has gotten into you today? You're acting crazier than usual." Zoc asked as he watched the two women trying to stop giggling.

"Being around each other." Ann replied.

"And lot's of sugary ice cream and pop." Mary added.

"Okay, another question, don't only women wear skirts?" he asked indicating his current outfit.

"It's a kilt." Ann and Mary both replied in unison with Scottish accents.

Mary grinned, "Leave that on a minute, I think I saw something in the back of the store that will go perfectly with it." she said before taking off for the back of the store where the older costumes were.

A few minutes later Mary came back and handed Zoc a blue coat with red collar and cuffs, "Put that on." she told him.

Once he had, she had him put on a pair of duck feet with red spats on them, then put a black top hat on him, handed him a cane and stuck a duck's beak with spectacles on it on him.

"It's perfect." Ann said.

"What on earth is it supposed to be?" Zoc asked looking confusedly into a mirror.

"Should we introduce him to our old cartoons we grew up watching?" Mary asked.

"Oh absolutely." Ann agreed.

"How about a double date, cartoonathon party, at your new house?" Mary asked, "John and I can come over and help you get stuff moved in for a couple hours and then we can make the guys sit and watch cartoons with us."

"That sounds wonderfully fun." Ann said.

"Perfect, I'll bring the popcorn and candy." Mary said.

"And I'll get the pop and ice cream." Ann said.

"Sounds great to me, but not too much for you, you shouldn't be over doing the junk food in your condition." Mary told her.

"Alright." Ann reluctantly agreed.

"Can I change out of this yet?" Zoc asked.

"Wait a minute." Mary said taking a picture of him, "Okay now you can go change." she said before going back to discussing party plans with Ann.

As they left the store with Mary on one side of Zoc and Ann holding his arm on the other side, Mary began to sing, "Life is like a hurricane,"

"Here in Duckburg." Ann joined in.

"Race cars, lasers, airplanes,  
It's a duck-blur,  
Might solve a mystery,  
Or rewrite history  
DuckTales oooh ooooh." they sang as they walked through the mall, not seeming to notice or care about the occasional odd looks they got from the other shoppers.

By the time they reached the large department store they had to pass through to get to where they had parked Zoc had heard the theme songs to Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Tailspin, Rescue Rangers and they had just finished off Darkwing Duck and were gearing up for another round.

As they passed through the women's department Zoc suddenly stopped, "What is it, why did you stop?" Ann asked turning to look at him and catching just a glimpse of what looked like an absolutely devious grin before it was replaced by a perfectly innocent look.

"Well we've gotten all those clothes for me, maybe we should get you something." Zoc suggested.

"I make most of my own clothes, anyways I don't need any clothes." Ann replied.

"Are you sure? I think you would look great in this." he said grabbing what could have been a night gown off of a nearby rack and holding it up, then again it could have also been a piece of pretty much see through black lace with a very low V neckline and a couple straps added to hold it up.

"Zoc!" Ann exclaimed blushing as she walked over to him and pulled his hand down, while Mary stood back to watch while snickering and trying not to break out into a full blown laughing fit.

"Okay, you're right, great isn't the right word, you'd look like the sexiest woman on earth in it." Zoc said making her blush even more before he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her body against his and kissing her,

"You're doing this as revenge for us making you dress up in all those costumes aren't you?" she asked when they stopped a few seconds later.

"Partially, if you two hadn't insisted on making me try on some of those ridiculous costumes I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to ask you, and certainly not so openly, but everything I said was true." Zoc replied.

"You really think I'd look good in it?" Ann asked.

"Absolutely." Zoc replied.

"Fine." Ann replied taking the gown from him, checking the size then trading it for one of the right size and heading to the check out as quickly as she could without running.

When Ann got back to where Zoc was waiting she handed him the bag, "There, now can we go?" she asked as she glanced around and could have sworn the dozen or so other people in the store were all grinning and glancing in their direction.

"Of course." Zoc replied grinning at her.

"I guess next time we go on an embarrass Zoc by making him dress up in crazy outfits trip, we should avoid leaving through the lingerie department." Mary said laughing.

"Yeah, very funny, you're not the one who got embarrassed." Ann replied which only resulted in Mary laughing harder as they left the building.

"Don't worry, she picked the worst of those costumes, she'll get what's coming to her, I just can't turn her into a toad out here in public." Zoc said.

Mary stopped laughing instantly, "You wouldn't really do that would you?" she asked, when his only response was an evil smile, she looked to Ann, "He wouldn't do that right?" she asked.

Ann hesitated for a long moment then replied, "That depends, are you going to keep laughing at me?" she asked.

"No, no I promise I won't, now would he really do that to me?" she asked again.

"As far as I know he can't turn people into toads." Ann replied.

"You're no fun, you could have at least let her worry for a few hours or days before you told her I couldn't do it." Zoc said.

"I know, but she is my best friend and she is going to be making sure the baby and I stay as healthy and strong as possible." she told him.

"Oh alright, I suppose I can be nice to her then." Zoc replied as they got into the car and left.

Twenty minutes later they pulled into a small store that sold Native American items and went inside.

Ann stepped inside and took a deep breath of the sage and naturally tanned leather scented air.

"Ann, what can I get for you today, the usual?" an elderly Native American man asked as he walked over to give her a welcoming hug.

"Of course, and a few other things." Ann told him, "Guys this is Little Eagle, he's been a good friend to my family since we went to our first powwow when I was fifteen. And this is Mary, my best friend, it's been a few years since I've brought her with me."

"Ah yes, she was just getting ready to head off to college last time she was in here, right?" Little Eagle asked.

"Yes, I just graduated and moved back to the area." Mary told him.

"Well congratulations." Little Eagle told her then looked at Zoc, "Now who is this fine young man? Did you finally find yourself a boyfriend?" he asked.

"This is Zoc, and he's not my boyfriend, he's my husband." Ann told him.

"You'd better take good care of her." Little Eagle told Zoc staring him right in the eye for a moment.

"I fully intend to, she means more to me than anything else." Zoc replied.

"Good." Little Eagle replied before turning back to Ann, "I can't believe you got married and didn't let me know" he said a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"It," Ann hesitated a moment not sure what to say to avoid hurting his feelings, had it been a normal wedding he would have been one of the first people invited, probably the one she would have asked to walk her down the aisle before she met Elnora, "It was- complicated." she finally said, part of her just wanting to tell him the truth and believed with all her heart that he could be trusted.

"I take it that means you know he isn't human then?" Little Eagle asked earning wide eyes and shocked gasps from all three of them.

"Why on earth would you think that he wasn't human?" Ann asked.

"I can sense it, he isn't human and he isn't an animal, he's something in between." Little Eagle replied, "Now what is it you needed?" he asked.

Ann smiled, grateful that he had dropped the subject of Zoc not being human, "I want to get Zoc proper clothes to go with his good looks." Ann replied. "Oh and do you still have those DVD's to teach yourself powwow dances? I want to have him dancing like a pro before the local powwow."

"Yes, I still have the DVD's. Now do you want clothes for out in public or just for sitting around at home for you to look at." Little Eagle asked.

"Both." Ann replied.

Half an hour later Zoc was wearing a soft, fringed, leather jacket, moccasins and had a loincloth to wear around the house.

"You sure that's all you'll be needing then?" Little Eagle asked as he handed Ann a bag of sage leaves and she paid for everything.

"Yes, thank you for the help." Ann replied.

"You're welcome. One more thing though." he said turning and pulling two cradleboards from where they had been on display on the wall, "Consider them a late wedding present." he told her.

"But, how-" Ann started.

"You think I'd be able to tell your husband's not human and not be able to tell when a woman is carrying another life inside of her?" he asked.

"I guess not, but why two?" Ann asked.

"One for each of you, you'll need them, not to mention if you each have your own, Zoc won't have to worry about you coming home and complaining because he misplaced your's. My wife made fun of me right up until the day before she died that I had managed to lose something as big as a cradleboard and it took me two days to find it." Little Eagle explained.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Ann said giving him a hug before they left.

"Okay was anyone else just a bit creeped out about him knowing that Zoc wasn't human?" Mary asked once they were in the car.

"It was odd." Zoc said.

"I think it's just a Native American thing, he's old and his parents spent a lot of his childhood with a small band of Native Americans that followed the old ways, living off the land, refusing to go onto reservations and hiding in the forests for a long time. As long as I've known him he's always been able to sense things. I think it's because he's more in tune with nature and stuff and can sense subtle differences that most people can't." Ann explained as they headed home.

After Ann dropped Mary off at home she and Zoc headed home.

"So how much longer do you think we have until the potion wears off?" Ann asked.

"Probably another hour and a half." Zoc told her.

"Good, plenty of time for you to try this on." she said handing him the loin cloth.

"Do I have to? Couldn't we just get all these cloth off of me and leave me like that until the potion wears off?" Zoc asked.

"Nope, I want to see how it looks on you." Ann replied.

"Alright." Zoc relented.

"Good, now why don't I help you with getting those clothes off." Ann said as she walked up to him and kissed him while she ran her hands up his chest then started to unbutton his shirt.

A few minutes later he stood before her, wearing nothing but the loin cloth, "You look very nice and so very sexy." Ann told him before stepping up to him and running her hands over his bare arms to his shoulders, "This is perfect for you to wear around the house." she said.

"I thought you said I wouldn't have much need for clothes around the house." Zoc said.

"Well true, but if we don't spend the entire time the potion lasts making love it would be safer for you to keep some important things covered up and more well protected." Ann replied running her hands down his chest, "And there are certain advantages to a loincloth."

"Like what?" Zoc asked his one hand subtly making its way to the hook on the waist band of Ann's skirt to unhook it.

Ann slid her hands to Zoc's hips and then along the waist band of the loincloth until she found the tie, "Well, it's leather so it'll protect you better than most cloth clothing and its faster to get off than regular pants." she told him as she pulled the tie loose and the loincloth dropped to the ground.

"Hmm, you're right, it would definitely be better than regular clothes." Zoc agreed before kissing her, a long, passionate kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

To celebrate the fifth anniversary since the first chapter of the first story was published on and since I've spent the last week with my grandparents and gotten a ton of writing done, I'm going to be posting five chapters between now and the 26th so here's the first.

* * *

The next morning Ann and Zoc headed to the nest to help with moving the final batches of eggs out of the nest and into a large dirt filled plastic tub that was in a large, carefully padded crate; the type a museum would use to transport the most delicate and fragile of artifacts. If all went according to plan they would be able to live in the tub until a new nest was dug. Just incase the drive damaged the temporary nest in the tub, several large glass jars had been placed under the dirt in the tub, enough to hold every ant in the colony and keep them safe during the drive. If the temporary nest was damaged then most of the colony would be kept in one of the spare bedrooms while the rest of the workers joined a handful of workers who hadn't been needed to assist with the moving preparations at the nest and had already begun work on a new nest.

"So, who get's to tell Hope about the baby?" Ann asked as they headed into the nest.

"You mean you really don't want to have to wait to tell her until after my meeting with the council, so you want to know if I would mind if you went ahead and told her?" Zoc asked wrapping an arm around Ann's shoulders as they walked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Ann replied slipping an arm around his waist.

"I suppose, if you absolutely can't wait you can tell her," Zoc replied.

"Thanks," Ann said kissing him on the cheek before heading down a separate tunnel towards the last hatching chamber that needed to be emptied.

As soon as Ann stepped into the chamber Hope came over to her, "Where have you two been? Zoc was here a couple days ago discussing moving plans and then disappeared that night and didn't come by at all yesterday."

"They were probably off trying to make pupas and forgot about us," Lilly said as she and Mayriella walked over to join them.

"That's not funny," Mayriella scolded her quietly.

"Actually we did that while we were in Egypt," Ann replied, trying not to start grinning.

"I thought you said the trip to Egypt was a bit lacking in the honeymoon activities," Mayriella said.

"It was, all but one day," Ann replied simply.

"But you just said-" Hope started then froze for a moment, "Wait a minute, are you- are you saying what I think you're saying?" Hope asked.

Ann grinned at her, "Yes," she replied.

"I'm going to be an aunt?" Hope asked still not sounding quite sure.

"I thought you already were an ant," Ann said somehow managing to sound perfectly serious.

"Is this conversation making any sense to you?" Lilly asked Mayriella.

"I'm not sure, but I think it is," Mayriella replied.

"Ann stop it, you know what I mean," Hope told Ann.

"Yes, at least as long as there aren't any complications, you are going to be an aunt," Ann told her before finally giving her an excited hug.

"You mean you're pregnant?" Lilly asked a little too loudly which set off a ripple effect of whispers through the whole hatching chamber.

"Yes," Ann replied.

"This is so amazing, I thought you said that was impossible," Lilly said.

"I'm married to a wizard, I'm not allowed to use that word anymore and I guess the baby is just to make sure I remember that," Ann told her.

"How long does it take humans to give birth?" Mayriella asked.

"Nine months, although since it's half ant we really don't know what to expect," Ann said then the smile faded from her face, "We also have no way of knowing if it'll survive the pregnancy or be able to survive after it's born."

Mayriella rested a hand on Ann's shoulder, "Oh Ann, I'm sure it'll be just fine. It's got two of the strongest most determined people I know of for parents, there's no doubt that it'll inherit that strength, a strong will to live and will be born strong and healthy," she told her.

"Thanks," Ann said, "Now we have a whole lot of eggs to get moved if we're going to be ready to head out to the new house before it get's dark out."

By late that afternoon the last of the eggs had been moved out of the nest and Zoc had carefully shrunk and removed everything of impotence that could be moved from the nest, including the pocket watch from the meeting chamber and the cement pipes from the chamber of the ancients.

The rumor of Ann's pregnancy had spread like wildfire through the colony and now ranged from her being pregnant to her being pregnant with twelve babies to her having already laid eggs.

"Think we should straiten out some of these crazy rumors?" Ann asked after Zoc had set the crate with the colony in it in the back of a moving truck that was backed right up to the front door to avoid anyone seeing him.

"No, let's see how many they think you're going to have by the time the new meeting chamber is built and then we'll make an official announcement to the whole colony," Zoc said mischievously.

"I'll probably be having a hundred babies by then," Ann said.

"Or Hope, Lilly and Mayriella will be going crazy from being asked for the correct information," Zoc replied as they stepped back into the house to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything they would need that night.

"Oh the poor things, we should have them over once the colony has gotten settled in, just make the three of them bigger so we can hang out and I can give them a proper tour of the house," Ann suggested.

"That's a good idea," Zoc replied, "Is there anything else here that we need tonight?" he asked.

Ann stopped to look out the window above the kitchen sink, "No, I think we've got everything. It's kind of sad leaving this place, I know I'm going to be happier out in the country and it'll be safer for the colony, but we have so many memories here," she said.

"We'll make many more memories at the new house as well," Zoc said coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, letting his hand rest on her stomach as he gently kissed her neck, his antennas gently stroking her hair and cheeks.

"Yes, many, many more I hope," she said turning her head to gently kiss one of his antennas while resting her hands over his on her stomach


	7. Chapter 7

Long before I got to the chapter where Ann discovers her magical abilities in the first story I already had the explanation for it planned out and finally here it is.

* * *

The next several days flew by as Ann and Zoc finished moving the last of the stuff out of the old house and worked on unpacking.

Ann had just finished unpacking the last of her books and organizing them on the shelf then headed outside.

"Are you sure you don't want some help carrying some of that stuff in?" she asked as she watched Zoc carry another box of stuff into the house from the truck.

"I'm fine, anyways I don't want to risk you straining yourself," Zoc told her.

"Some of them really aren't that heavy, most of what's left are the boxes of Christmas decorations and lightweight stuff," Ann pointed out.

"And those need to go clear up to the attic," Zoc said setting the boxes down that he had been carrying and walked over to Ann, "I don't want to take any chances of anything going wrong," he told her, resting one hand on her should and the other hand lightly on her stomach.

Ann sighed, part of her wanting to be annoyed that he was being so over protective, but another part of her knew that he was right, they really didn't know what to expect or what could cause complications. In a normal pregnancy Zoc's behavior may have been over protective, but this wasn't a normal pregnancy and they both knew there was a good chance the baby wouldn't survive. He was just doing everything in his power to ensure it had the best chance of surviving, so she would just have to get used to being babied a little. "Alright, I'm going to go work on getting some of the cobwebs out of the basement then," she told him.

"If you need help with anything you'll let me know?" Zoc asked.

"All I'm going to be doing is using the broom to clean up the cobwebs I don't think I'll need any help, but if I do, I promise I'll let you know," she assured him giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing a broom and heading down to the basement.

Once Ann had finished getting the cobwebs down she started to sweep the floor. She froze suddenly when she noticed her ring starting to glow even though she wasn't making it glow. She started to walk towards the stairs to ask Zoc if he knew what was wrong with it, but as soon as she moved away from the wall it stopped glowing. She walked back to the same section of wall and it started to glow again, she moved along the wall for a couple of feet in either direction and it would stop glowing. Moving back to where the crystal glowed the brightest she magically tried pushing on the bricks to see if any were loose, a section about two feet wide and three feet high shifted back about an inch, but she wasn't strong enough to move it any farther, so she headed upstairs.

"Zoc I need you in the basement," Ann said as Zoc walked in carrying another box of stuff.

"What do you need?" he asked as he set the box down.

"I think there's something behind the wall and it's making my ring glow," Ann told him.

"It's making your ring glow?" Zoc asked in shocked.

"Yeah, kind of like it does when it gets near your staff, but a lot brighter, bright enough I noticed it with the lights on," Ann told him as they headed into the basement.

As soon as she led him over to the section of the wall, the crystal on her ring began to glow, "See?" she asked holding the ring up for him to see.

"Yes, I've never seen anything like this, but I wonder why it doesn't seem to effect my staff," he replied as he handed his staff to Ann to hold so he could inspected the wall.

As soon as the staff was in Ann's hand the crystal began to glow, "You're not doing that are you?" Zoc asked.

"No," Ann replied as Zoc took the staff back and the crystal stopped glowing.

"This is making absolutely no sense," Zoc said before handing the staff back to Ann and kneeling down to inspected the wall, "It's sealed, it has a magical seal on it," he said after a moment.

"But I got it to move a little," Ann pointed out.

"I think that's because it's a seal that can only be opened with the crystal," Zoc explained then stepped back and, taking his staff back magically pushed the wall open reveling a small room behind it.

Zoc looked in then hesitantly stepped down into the room and glanced around again before turning back and taking Ann's hand as she stepped down off of the cement floor of the main basement that had obviously been added long after the room had been sealed off.

The room was small, no more than five feet by seven feet and the air smelled stale as if there had been no air circulating at all, which seemed to be confirmed by the fact that there were no signs of spiders or other bugs having ever been in the room. They slowly walked around the edges of the room, which appeared to be empty, until they found a section of the wall where Ann's crystal glowed the brightest.

Zoc knelt to look at the wall for a moment then said, "It's another magical seal, but this one is different, I'm not sure how, but I can sense that it's different," Zoc said as he tried to open it, "It won't budge," he finally said.

"I wonder what's back there." Ann said as she knelt to take a closer look at what appeared to be a hand print on the large rock. She pressed her hand to the handprint wondering who had left it there and why, then gasped and jumped backwards as something sharp suddenly popped out of the rock and cut into the palm of her hand. Her hand moved away just in time for them to see what looked like a small piece of metal pull back into the wall. A second later light flared around the edges of the stone, the crystal on Ann's ring flared brightly and the stone slid to the side.

"Well I've never seen anything like that," Zoc said holding Ann's hand in his and applying pressure to the small cut, "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Ann replied taking a step forward to look in to the small opening that was only about two feet square, "It looks like there's something in there," Ann said reaching forward to see what it was.

Zoc caught her hand, stopping her, "Let me, we don't know what's in there, but if it was magically sealed it could be dangerous," Zoc said, then before Ann could protest he added, "I don't want to take any chance with you _two_,"

"Alright," Ann relented taking a step back.

Zoc reached in and pulled out a large old trunk, "Let's take this upstairs to look at it," Zoc suggested.

"Okay," Ann agreed and they headed up stairs.

Once they got upstairs Zoc set the trunk down in the middle of the dinning room and looked at the large lock on it, "Ann, maybe we shouldn't mess with this, it could be something dangerous, I've never seen magic quite like this, there's no knowing what to expect," he said.

"We've come this far, we have to at least see if we can get it open," Ann said resting a hand on his arm, "It'll be alright, I- I don't know, I just get this feeling that what ever is in there isn't dangerous," she told him.

Zoc looked her in the eyes for a long moment then finally said, "Alright, but the lock is magical too, we may not be able to get it open."

Ann looked at the lock, or at least it was shaped like a lock, but it had no place for a key or a combination, just smooth metal except for a small indentation on the front of it and what looked like a dragon on the hooked part of it.

Zoc tried to open it but was unable to get it to open, "Looks like it'll be staying locked," he told Ann.

"I have an idea," Ann said squeezing her hand to make the cut on it start bleeding again then allowed a drop of blood to fall onto the indentation on the lock and the lock began to glow dimly.

"Well you've gotten it to do something, but it doesn't look like it's going to actually unlock," Zoc said as he watched her.

"Maybe it just needs a little magic," Ann said then concentrated on trying to open the lock, her ring glowing brightly.

The lock seemed to move slightly, but didn't unlock, "I don't think I'm strong enough," Ann said as she grabbed Zoc's hand.

A second later the lock popped open, Ann grinned at Zoc, "See this isn't so hard."

"Yes, now we just have to worry about what's inside," Zoc said, protectively slipping in front of Ann to open the chest.

He removed the lock and unlatched the latches then hesitated a moment, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked.

"As long as my intuition is right, it'll be fine," Ann told him.

"I certainly hope you're right," Zoc said then lifted the lid.

They both stared into the trunk for a long moment, somewhat surprised by the contents.

"Well I know I said it wasn't going to be anything dangerous, but I was expecting something a little different," Ann said as she looked at the piles of letter and books that filled the trunk.

She reached in and pulled out one of the books and gasped when she opened the cover, "Oh my gosh, Zoc, it's a diary, it's Rachel Fisher's diary, if she is related to grandma Sarah it should mention her in one of these," she said excitedly as she started checking the other books to find that they were all diaries, "And even if she wasn't related to grandma Sarah these diaries will contain a massive amount of first hand accounts of pioneer life."

She picked up a pile of the letters and carefully started looking through them while Zoc pulled out what looked like a wooden jewelry box, a moment later she froze as she looked at one of the letters, a large grin spreading across her face, "It's a letter to Rachel, signed, your loving sister Sarah Bordner!" she said excitedly carefully setting the letters down before throwing her arms around Zoc's neck, "My great, great, great, great, great, grandparents, aunt and several cousins are buried in our back yard," she practically squealed with joy. "What's wrong?" she asked when Zoc didn't respond.

"Why would you're family's stuff have been magically locked away and why would they have had this?" he asked turning the box so she could see it's contents.

Ann fell silent when she saw the contents of the box, inside carefully wrapped in red velvet was a crystal about the size of her fist, almost identical to the one on Zoc's staff and her ring.

"I- I have no idea," she breathed barely able to believe what she was seeing.

She gently took the box from Zoc's hands and looked at it, the sides were covered with intricately carved dragons and on the top was an image of a dragon and a human standing side by side and another dragon handing what looked like the crystal to the other dragon, underneath the picture were a couple lines of writing in another language.

"Do you know what it says?" Zoc asked as Ann ran her fingers over the words.

"I think it's Latin, I know it, but not as fluently as ancient Egyptian, but it says,

etsi nunc homo apud species,

ab haec recordor tuus-a-um magnus hereditas," Ann read.

She took a moment to go over the translation in her mind to ensure it said what she thought it did, "Although now human in appearance, by this remember your great heritage," Ann breathed, her hands shaking slightly.

"Ann, what's wrong?" Zoc asked taking one of her shaking hands in his.

"I- I think it's saying that whoever originally owned this box and the crystal inside was no more human than you are when you've used the potion to make yourself look human and everything else in that trunk obviously belonged to Rachel. Most of my life there's always been this part of me that for some reason has believed I was part dragon. No matter how many times I told myself that was crazy and impossible I couldn't help but believe it. If Rachel was really a dragon so was grandma Sarah and if that's true, the blood line may be thinned, but maybe that's why I can use the crystal," Ann said.

"It would be the most reasonable explanation we've been able to come up with," Zoc said, taking in her pale complexion, wide eyes and shaking hands he asked, "Are you alright?"

Ann looked up at him and smiled, "I'm fine, just really shocked," she laughed, "I'm married to a talking ant, I'm pregnant, I have magical abilities and the government is after me, you'd think nothing would shock me by now," she said running her fingers over the carvings on the box. "Now I just need to find some type of proof that I'm right about all this,"

"That's a wonderful idea, you look like you could use a break after all this excitement, why don't you take one of the diaries and go put your feet up and relax a bit," Zoc suggested.

"That's a good idea, and I do feel a little tired," Ann replied as Zoc stood up then helped her to her feet after she had grabbed the oldest of the diaries.

Ann lie down on the couch, carefully reading the diary, which seemed to be a perfectly normal diary of a pioneer girl in her late teens except for occasional comments that made it pretty obvious that they weren't human, but never actually said what they were.

May 1, 1831

Mama says Sarah and I should keep diaries about our trip out west, because it'll give us something to do on the wagon train.

Sarah and I don't want to leave all our friends, but Mr. Baker accused mama of being a witch, so papa said it was time we moved and that there is enough wide open space out farther west that we won't have to worry about any nosy neighbors.

May 7, 1831

Daddy is being so mean! I want to go flying, but he says it's too dangerous because someone might see us. It's the middle of the night, everyone is asleep, it's not like I was going to fly directly over the camp or anything. I'm 17 I'm old enough to do what I want, but mama says I'll have plenty of time to fly when we get to our new home and we can't take any chances, we have to make sure everyone here believes we're human. I hate having to hide like this.

May 14, 1831

It's so boring out here, just miles of prairies and tall grass, nothing exciting ever happens.

May 16, 1831

I was wrong, it's not all that boring after all. We were attacked by Indians today, they came out of nowhere and started shooting at us with bows and arrows and guns. One grabbed me and tried to carry me off, but George Fisher jumped out of one of the wagons and onto the Indian's horse then held a knife to his throat and made him let me go and drop his weapons then George let him go instead of killing him. Later when I asked him why he didn't kill the Indian like most of the older men would have he said that the Indians are just protecting their land and he didn't like killing someone over something like that. He certainly seems smarter than most of the other human men here. He got a bad cut on his leg during the fight and can barely walk, so I offered to take turns with his mother and sister to help take care of him until he can walk again. It was the least I could do after he saved my life.

Before long Ann dozed off, exhausted from the long day of unpacking and excitement.

A little while later Zoc came in and carefully set the diary on the end table, "Sleep well my loves," he whispered, gently kissing Ann's stomach then forehead as he covered her with the afghan off of the back of the couch, then left to finish unpacking.


	8. Chapter 8

Elnora's little love making horror story in this chapter is based on real events, I did it to my parents when I was probably about 4 or 5. I don't remember it so either I've forgotten it or my parent's did a good job of hiding what had been going on.

* * *

"So when are you going to leave this old store and go get a job at one of the museums or dig sites around here? Or are you planning on trying to get funding and travel to somewhere else to dig up the past?" Elnora asked Ann the next day.

"Well actually I was thinking about staying here for now and maybe doing some genealogy on the side for a while," Ann replied.

"But you always use to talk about getting out in the field or at least joining the research department at the museum. Why the change of plans?" Elnora asked.

"Well because there have been some unexpected surprises over the last week that have changed things quite a bit," Ann replied.

"Does it have anything to do with you having been kidnapped?" Elnora asked.

"Not exactly, more just to do with something I found out when I was kidnapped," Ann replied.

"What would that be? I'd think after that you'd feel safer working around larger groups of people than in the shop where it's usually just the two of us," Elnora said.

"Maybe, but I can't really get a new job right now, I'll probably be going into hiding and rarely leave the house in the next couple of months," Ann told her.

"Why?" Elnora asked.

"Because if I don't, my reputation will be absolutely ruined since I can't tell anyone else that I'm married," Ann said then smiled, "How would you feel about adopting another grandchild, or more accurately a great grandchild who happens to be half ant?" Ann asked.

Elnora's eyes widened in shock, "You're pregnant?" she asked.

"Yep," Ann replied grinning.

"Oh that's wonderful, I thought you said that wouldn't be possible," Elnora said.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later, but basically there were some things that we didn't anticipate that have made it possible. There's still no way to know if the baby will actually survive which is another reason I'll be pretty much staying at the house, so Zoc can make sure I don't do anything to put any stress on my body. Not to mention if anyone knew I was pregnant they'd probably want to see baby pictures eventually and we have no idea what the baby will look like yet," Ann explained.

"What are you going to tell Doreen?" Elnora asked.

"I- hadn't really thought about that," Ann admitted, "I guess I've just been so distracted with getting everything moved and stuff I haven't had time to think through all of the details or people I'll need to avoid,"

"You'll never be able to avoid Doreen, from what I've seen of her, she'd probably bust your door down to make sure you're alright if she doesn't see you for a while," Elnora said.

"You're right, maybe I could introduce her to Zoc, wait a few weeks and then just tell her we eloped or something to explain not having a wedding and then worry about telling her about Zoc being an ant once we know how human the baby will look," Ann said.

"How can you introduce her to him without her knowing he's an ant?" Elnora asked.

Ann smiled, "He finally got the potion to turn him in to a human to work. Another reason I've been so distracted the last few days," she said blushing slightly.

"Oh stop blushing, I was young and newly married at one time too. Just remember one thing, once the baby is old enough to walk and open doors, keep your bedroom door locked, having a child suddenly run into your room and jump onto the bed and onto your husband's back while you two are under the covers making love isn't the most pleasant experience. Not to mention it's quite difficult to get yourselves untangled and some type of clothing on without the kid asking what's going on," Elnora told her.

"Oh you poor thing." Ann said.

"It was quite horrifying when it happened, but we had a good many laughs about it afterwards," Elnora told her.

By the next morning Ann and Zoc had agreed to introduce Doreen to Zoc in his human form. They would invite Lucas over to help move the last few things out of the moving truck so that they could tell him about Zoc's ability to become human and the baby. That way he wouldn't freak out or saying anything to make his mother suspicious when Ann showed up with Zoc. Once they had finished unloading the truck the three of them would head back to the Nickle's house to introduce Doreen to Zoc.

The next day everything had gone according to plan and they were just getting ready to take Lucas home.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Zoc asked as he got dressed after turning himself human.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," Ann said walking over to him and trailing her hand over his chest for a moment, "you handled the mall and meeting Little Eagle just fine," Ann pointed out as she began to button his shirt.

"Little Eagle new I wasn't human as soon as he saw me," Zoc reminded her as he shrunk his staff and put it in the medicine bag around his neck.

"Well, that's just because he can sense things like that, most people can't, so don't worry about it," Ann told him, "Now get you're shoes on and get that sexy butt of your's downstairs, Lucas seemed impatient to get home and see how this goes," she said before leaving their bedroom and heading downstairs.

Just as she came off the stairs there was a knock at the door, "What are you doing here Doreen?" Ann asked when she opened the door.

"Ellen is driving me crazy so I thought I'd save you the time and gas and come out here to pick Lucas up. I just had to get out of the house for a while," Doreen explained.

"What has she been doing to drive you that crazy?" Ann asked as she let Doreen come in.

"She just keeps going on and on saying someone has kidnapped the aliens in our yard or that something must have happened to them. She's occasionally mentioned thinking there were aliens living in the yard for several years now, ever since Fred and I left her and the kids home while we went on a trip for our anniversary, but she's never been so persistent about it," Doreen explained.

"I'm sure she'll get over it soon enough," Ann told her, then, when she heard Zoc coming down the stairs, "There's someone I wanted you to meet," she said taking Zoc's hand as he stepped into the room, looking slightly startled to see Doreen there, "This is Zoc, my h- boyfriend," she said mentally cursing herself for having such a hard time lying to people she knew well.

Ann felt his hand tighten around hers for a moment and noticed his face go deathly pale before he suddenly raced out of the room towards the downstairs bathroom.

"Um, just a minute," Ann said before following Zoc, fear gripping her for a moment when she heard him throwing up and she worried that he could have caught some human disease that an ant might not have any immunity to that could turn deadly.

"Zoc?" she said as she stepped into the bathroom, shut the door then put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Zoc replied as he dropped to the floor and leaned back against the wall, pulling his knees up and resting his forehead against them.

"Zoc, you're pale as a ghost, shaking like a leaf and throwing up, you are not alright," Ann said kneeling down next to him, forcing him to lift his head and pressing her hand to his forehead to check for a fever.

"I'm not sick," he told her.

"Then what happened?" Ann asked.

"Flash back," he replied slowly, "It use to happen a lot after Hove died, but happened less and less as time passed until shortly after I met you. I thought they had stopped completely, but seeing her, it- it just came back to me as clearly as the day it happened. Most of Hove's body crushed and mangled beyond recognition, blood everywhe-" he suddenly leaned forward empting what was left in his stomach into the toilet.

"Maybe we should skip any further introduction, I can just tell her your sick and that she and Lucas should go home, then tell her about us being married sometime when I'm over visiting her and come up with some excuse for you never being around if she comes over here. Then if it's obvious the baby isn't human I can tell her the truth and I'm sure she'll understand you not being able to handle being around her," Ann told him.

"And if the baby does look human, how would you explain me never being around for the rest of your life?" Zoc asked.

Ann handed him a glass of water and a washcloth, "I- I don't know, but we'll think of something," she told him.

"No, I need to learn to deal with this," Zoc told her as he stood up.

"You're sure?" Ann asked hugging him tightly.

"Yes, I-"

"Mom what are you doing?" they heard Lucas say from outside the door.

Ann opened the door to find Doreen standing there looking embarrassed, completely unsure of what to do and maybe a little scared.

"I- I was just coming to ask if everything was alright," she said.

"You were standing there listening through the door," Lucas said.

"I- I-." Doreen stuttered more fear becoming evident in her voic


	9. Chapter 9

"How long were you there?" Ann asked already pretty sure they were going to end up telling her a lot more than they had planned to that day.

"Married- baby- not human-" Doreen stammered out sounding more freaked out and scared by the second.

"Craznocks." was the reply she received from Ann, Zoc and Lucas.

"Doreen breath," Ann said resting her hand on her shoulder, "It's alright, we'll explain everything, you just have to swear you'll never tell anyone else," she told her.

"Okay," Doreen replied, still sounding a little uncertain.

"Lucas take your mother into the living room," Ann said before turning to Zoc, "Are you okay to help us explain this or do you want to go relax somewhere else?" she asked.

"No, I'm not going to leave you alone to deal with this. I'll be alright," he told her although as soon as they entered the living room he took her hand in his in a strong grip.

Ann and Zoc sat down on the love seat across from the chair Doreen was sitting in and Ann said, "Where do we begin?"

"How about at the beginning and go from there?" Doreen suggested.

"The beginning, beginning as in how you ended up with sentient ants living in your yard or the beginning how Lucas ended up meeting them?" Ann asked.

"Sentient ants? In my yard? How is that even possible?" Doreen asked.

"Beginning, beginning it is then," Ann said, "Lucas, you see that big book about the Lincoln Memorial on the shelf by the TV, could you get that for me?" Ann asked.

"Sure," Lucas said grabbing the book and handing it to Ann.

Ann opened the book to revel that the inside of it had been cut out and replaced with a small metal box with a combination lock on it. She unlocked the box and pulled out the papers that she and Zoc had stolen.

"What's that?" Doreen asked.

"They're government records that Zoc and I stole from a secret facility under the Lincoln Memorial. It's the only proof we have of a lot of what we're about to tell you," Ann explained handing the pile of papers to her.

A few hours later, between the three of them Ann, Zoc and Lucas had given Doreen a fairly complete explanation of the ants history. Lucas being shrunk, how Ann had met them up to Zoc's being able to make himself appear human, although they left out a few things like Lucas's being swallowed by the frog and Ann being kidnapped.

"This- I can't believe all of this has been going on and I never knew about it. Now that I think about it there were little things that should have seemed odd and made me suspect something and yet I never noticed until now," Doreen said shaking her head, "And when Ellen said Lucas had been kidnapped by aliens, he really had been kidnapped, only it was ants?"

"Yes, the same aliens who are now missing from your front yard, we moved them out here so the government hopefully won't find them, along with the wasps who decided to come as well," Ann told her.

"So do you have anything to eat around here? Didn't you say you had fresh cookies when you invited me over?" Lucas asked when his stomach growled.

"That's right, I'll go get you some. Doreen why don't you come help me?" Ann suggested, not sure how Zoc would handle being left in the same room with her.

"Okay," Doreen replied as she got up and headed to the kitchen.

"We'll be right back," Ann said slipping her numb hand out of Zoc's, his grip on her had loosened the longer they talked to Doreen, but he had never once let go of Ann's hand.

"Are you alright?" Doreen asked when Ann walked into the kitchen rubbing her hand.

"I'm fine, my hand is just asleep," Ann replied.

"What's with that, why didn't he let go of your hand that whole time and why does he seem afraid of me?" Doreen asked.

"He's not afraid of, you-" Ann hesitated a moment not quite sure weather she should tell Doreen or not, she didn't want to make her feel guilty about Hova's death.

"What is it Ann?" Doreen asked.

"You just bring back some bad memories for him," Ann finally replied.

Doreen gave her a confused look, "Why?" she asked.

"Do you remember when I first moved in with you and you told me not to crush any ants because it upset Lucas?" Ann asked.

"Oh dear, yes, it makes sense now why Lucas was so upset about it," Doreen said.

"The one you stepped on was Hova," Ann told her.

"The one who took care of Lucas when he was with them?" Doreen asked.

"Yes, and Zoc's fiancée, he was the other ant that was there that day, she died in his arms, it was very traumatic on him and seeing you seems to have caused him to have some flashbacks to when it happened. That's why he reacted the way he did when he saw you," Ann explained.

"Oh my gosh, no wonder he's so bothered with having me around, I can't believe he even agreed to meet me. He must think I'm some horrible murderous monster," Doreen said, her voice laced with guilt.

"Its just the way humans are, you had no way of knowing we were sentient," Zoc said walking into the kitchen with Lucas close behind him until he spotted the cookie jar and headed straight for it, "You may have taken one love from me, but you also brought Ann into my life and as deeply as I loved Hova I've come to love Ann more than I ever could have imagine it was possible to love another person. It may take me a while to be able to be around you without the memories of Hova's death haunting me, but I forgave you for it a long time ago," Zoc told her as he walked over to Ann and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Well she handled that better than I would have expected," Zoc said after Doreen and Lucas had left.

"Yeah, a little too well, I think we overwhelmed her with too much information all at once, she'll probably freak out once she's had time to let it all sink in," Ann replied


	10. Chapter 10

Here's the final of the five chapters I wrote to celebrate today, the fifth anniversary of the beginning of these stories and the beginning of my writing. Before I started this story I had never written anything just for fun, was part of an online school that cut all of the writing assignments out of my work instead of trying to help me with my writing skills and I honestly didn't think I could write well enough for anyone to want to read it. Then because of a dream and the fact that there wasn't any other Ant Bully fanifiction I decided to give it a try, now five years later I have dozens of stories I'm working on, both fanfiction and original stories and hope to get some of my original stories published someday.

* * *

Early the next morning the phone rang, "Hello," Ann said when she picked it up.

"It was all a crazy dream wasn't it? You're not really married to a talking ant and-" Doreen started, sounding completely freaked out, before Ann cut her off.

"Yes Doreen, I really am married to him," Ann replied.

"And you're really p-"

"Doreen, calm down and then why don't you come over and we can talk about it if you want to," Ann suggested.

"Alright, but you're really-"

"Doreen, just come over here, we'll talk then," Ann told her.

"But-"

"I'll talk to you shortly," Ann said before hanging up the phone.

"She's freaking out, isn't she?" Zoc asked as he pulled Ann back into his arms.

"Yep and she will probably be here in a little while, so I need to get up and get dressed," Ann replied kissing him before slipping out of his arms and getting up to get dressed.

Half an hour later there was a knock at the door, "You hung up on me!" Doreen said as soon as Ann opened the door.

"I know, I'm sorry about that, but it's really not safe to discus some things, like my being pregnant over the phone. There's no way of knowing if the government has the phone lines bugged in that neighborhood just incase anyone with knowledge of the ants were to talk about them on the phone," Ann told her.

"You really think they would do something like that?" Doreen asked, "I mean I know they were trying to keep people from finding out about them and having the exterminator come out, but do you really think they would put that much effort and time into bugging the phones just to get information about the ants?" Doreen asked.

Ann hesitated a moment, she really hadn't wanted to worry Doreen too much, but it didn't seem like she was going to have much of a choice. "It's a bit more serious than we indicated yesterday, bugging the phones would be a minor effort after what else they've been doing," Ann told her.

"What do you mean?" Doreen asked.

"When Zoc and I snuck into the Lincoln Memorial they had security cameras that we didn't know about, they got pictures of us and then sent four men after me about week ago. They kidnapped me, they did some blood tests on me and that's when I found out I was pregnant," Ann told her.

"Oh my gosh, you poor thing, how did you get away from them? And if they already know you're pregnant why does it matter if we mention it over the phone?" Doreen asked.

"Because it was that day it was storming really badly, the storm took out their communications and they never got a chance to tell anyone else I was pregnant," Ann told her.

"Never got the chance to?" Doreen asked looking like she already suspected and wasn't quite sure she wanted to know what had happened.

"Why don't we go sit down, this may take a while," Ann told her, leading her into the living room.

"They're dead, aren't they?" Doreen asked once they had sat down.

"Yes," Ann replied, "You're a mother, surely you can understand doing whatever it takes to protect your child."

"Yes, but to kill someone? There wasn't anything else you could have done? Couldn't Zoc have shrunk them like he did to Lucas and just make them live with the ants or something?" Doreen asked.

"Honestly that thought never crossed my mind. At the time I had four men who had just been talking about dissecting my baby, coming after me with some very large guns, all I was thinking was that I had to protect myself and my baby," Ann told her.

"I suppose if someone where going to do that to one of my children I wouldn't be thinking much about showing them any mercy either, but you're the one who killed them?" Doreen asked.

"Yes," Ann replied.

"How could you have done that if they were fully armed?" Doreen asked.

Sighing Ann said, "I'll warn you now, things are about to get a whole lot more amazing and if you want the full explanation of why it's possible it might start sounding crazier too."

"Give me the full explanation, I think I've handled finding out you're married to a talking ant fairly well, I doubt you can tell me anything that would be too much more shocking than that," Doreen said, then added, "He's really an ant?"

"Yes, he really is, actually if you'd like to see what he really looks like, he'll probably be back from the nest before you leave," Ann told her.

"Okay-" she replied sounding as if she were going to say more and then changed her mind.

"What is it?" Ann asked.

"I just- isn't your being married to him kind of bestiality," Doreen asked.

"I guess that would depend on how you view it, he's sentient and thinks pretty much like a human and as far as I'm concerned that makes him a person not an animal," Ann told her.

"I guess that makes sense," Doreen said.

"Anyways, it turns out I'm not entirely human myself," Ann said.

"What? What do you mean?" Doreen asked.

"Well for the sake of getting back on track I'll tell you what happened with the men who kidnapped me and then explain the not being quite human thing," Ann told her.

"Okay," Doreen replied.

By the time Ann had finished telling her about being kidnapped, having magical abilities, how she had discovered those abilities, finding out why she had them and then given her a little demonstration, Doreen was just staring at her in absolute shock.

"Okay, so I was wrong, there are things that are more shocking than mutant talking ants. Dragons, really, they're real and you're part dragon?" she said in wonder.

"Yep, although I don't know whether or not they're still around or all intermarried with humans and forgot it the way my family did, but it's certainly possible that there are still some out there somewhere," Ann told her then when she heard the backdoor open she asked, "So, do you want to see what Zoc really looks like?"

"Yes, I think I can handle that," Doreen replied sounding a little like she was trying to convince herself.

Ann headed out to the kitchen and told Zoc that Doreen was still there and wanted to meet him then they both headed back into the living room. As soon as they entered the room Doreen was on her feet and took a step back beside the chair she had been sitting in, her eyes wide.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ann asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, like you said, giant ant, I just- didn't expect- well I don't know what I expected, but I don't think I realized he'd be so big," Doreen said nervously.

"It's alright, you'll get use to it eventually, if you send enough time around here," Ann assured her.

"Until she does, we'll keep the visits with me in this form short," Zoc said, although from the grip he had on her hand Ann had a feeling the suggestion was just as much for his own comfort as Doreen's, "I still need to finish clearing that flowerbed so you can plant your flowers," he added.

"Alright, go on then, do all the hard work for me, so I can sit around and be bored," Ann said.

"Better to have you bored than over doing it," Zoc said his grip loosening on her hand as he focused on her and rested his other hand on her belly, "Anyways, you still have those journals to read," he pointed out.

"True, who knows what else I'll find in them," she said smiling then kissing him lightly before he left.

"Well seeing him like that may take some getting use to, but no matter what form he's in it's obvious how much he cares about you and the baby," Doreen said.

A little while later Doreen left and Ann picked up the journal she had been reading.

September 21, 1831

We're almost to our new home, we should arrive tomorrow and I find myself wishing we wouldn't. George and his family will be moving on to be closer to one of the towns. The towns are so far away and I fear although we are courting that I may never see him again, it would simply be too far to travel to see each other more than a few times a year.

September 22, 1831

I'm getting married! George asked to talk to me alone for a while before the rest of the wagon train left us. I agreed and after telling mama where I was going I met him at the edge of the woods on our new property. He gave me a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers and told me how very much he loved me and then asked me to marry him. I of course told him nothing could ever make me happier than to be his wife. The wagon train will wait until tomorrow to leave and we will be married in the morning, he also said we could stay here for now, to help get my family settled in before winter. I only hope he'll still want to marry me after I tell him what I truly am.

Morning September 23, 1831

The wedding is still on! Just before sunrise I asked George to go for a walk and told him about myself and my family. At first he thought I was joking, then when I showed him he was understandably shocked, but after having a moment to recover he told me he loved me no matter what I might be, it was my mind and soul he fell in love in with, not what I look like. Never in all my life have I been so happy or relieved. Our marriage will also solve another problem, papa didn't like the idea of having the land deed put in his name, incase anyone would come this way from where we use to live and recognize our name and remember mama being accused of being a witch. Now papa and George have agreed to put the land in George's name although all of us will live on it.

Later same day

Our wedding was short and simple, but that doesn't bother me, it's still the best day of my life. As soon as it was over the wagon train left and we set to work clearing an area for a cabin, although as soon as we were sure the wagons were far enough away, the work was finished with magic and two cabins built, one for my family and one for George and I. George was quite amazed at how quickly the work was finished with magic and grateful for it, it's terribly hot out this afternoon so it'll be nice to only have to unload the wagons.

Mama and papa made me a dragon's stone for a wedding present, they say it's a simple reminder of what I truly am as well as a gift to be passed to my children to make it easier for them to use the magical abilities they'll inherit, but will have a more difficult time tapping into because of being part human.


	11. Chapter 11

Is it strange that I feel more like doing something special to celebrate my writing anniversary than I've ever felt like doing to celebrate my birthday? I want to try decorating a cake and putting Zoc on it and wear my rust colored colonial dress with the off white trim and watch The Ant Bully on the big TV, but I'm currently living with my grandparents, so all I got to do is go out and get donuts, cream filled long johns, remember those from the trip to Washington? I craved those for so long after writing that chapter and couldn't get any. To try to explain why a talking ant is important to the start of my writing probably wouldn't go over well. Why yes grandma I have a crush on a talking ant. That would probably totally freak her out, a couple of years ago I was going somewhere with her and there was a couple walking down the sidewalk, the man was black the woman was white and grandma said that's disgusting, it's just not right. Yep at that point I questioned how I could be related to her and knew I'd never let her read my writing, if she can't accept people with different colored skin being together she'd probably be horrified if she ever read any of the stuff I write.

I really wasn't sure I was going to get this finished in time to be posted today, it's not very long, but I was only able to start writing it yesterday. Life has been crazy over the last year, mom is in a nursing home, my sisters are at college and if I can get the financial aid I'll be going to college this fall and taking archaeology, if you want to know more about that check out my Deviantart journals, just remove the spaces. Grandma has been keeping me busy helping her clean for my aunt and uncle from Arizona to visit and stay.

I think the thing I miss most about having my own room that I can decorate how I want it is my 8 foot tall poster of Zoc, for almost 6 years he was the first thing I saw when I woke up and the last I saw before going to bed so it's strange not having him around, he's the first thing that's getting hung up when I get my own apartment.

Would anyone care if I skipped through parts of the pregnancy? I'm just having a horrible time coming up with stuff to happen while she's pregnant. If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them, at this point I know what the baby's name will be, that's been planned since before I started writing the sequel, but other than that I don't have anything planned for the story until the baby is 3.

Sorry for making that so long, on to the story.

* * *

Ann woke up and found herself strapped down to a table although she couldn't remember how she had gotten there or how long she had been there. She was in a plain white room, there was a light above her, like one you would see in a hospital. As she looked around more she guessed that's where she was when she saw tables of various scalpels and other medical supplies. She tried to remember why she was there and strapped down, but her mind seemed fuzzy and she couldn't seem to move at all. Her heart started to pound as she realized she must have been drugged.

The door to the room opened and three people walked in, but she couldn't tell much about them, they were dressed like surgeons with masks, caps and robes. She tried to ask them what was going on, but couldn't even get her mouth to work.

Then one of them picked up a scalpel while the other pulled her shirt up far enough to expose her belly. She wanted to scream as she felt the blade slice into her, but she was so completely paralyzed that she couldn't and laid there helplessly as they cut her open. A moment later there was a cry as they pulled the baby out of her and carried it off to the other side of the room. Ann tried to see it, but only got a brief glimpse of a hand waving around as it cried before they laid it out of sight. She struggled desperately to beg them not to hurt it, tried to do anything at all, but still she couldn't move.

"Should I take it to the incubator?" the man who had carried the baby away asked.

"No, looks like there are two of them, we can keep this one alive for a while. We don't need two of them to study, you might as well go ahead and dissect that one," the man who was still standing by Ann replied.

Ann struggled with every once of strength she had, she even tried to use magic to stop them, but nothing happened and she had to watched helplessly as the man who had taken her baby lifted a scalpel. He glanced at her and grinned evilly for a moment before lowering the blade, the baby let out a brief shriek before falling silent.

As the man standing next to her started to reach for the second baby Ann tried again to move, fighting with everything in her she somehow managed to sit up, wrapping her arms protectively around her belly.

Ann sat for a long moment, her arms wrapped across her belly, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to keep from sobbing. When she was sure she was under control she silently slipped out of bed without waking Zoc and headed downstairs.

She didn't turn any lights on, just quietly made her way around the downstairs, checking the locks on the doors and windows, occasionally stopping to watch the shadows until she was sure no one was outside. When she got to the kitchen she put a mug of water in the microwave to heat then turned on the radio just to have a little noise to distract her.

She had just finished her cup of hot chocolate when the floor boards behind her creaked, the mug clattered into the sink as she dropped it and spun around, her heart racing with panic. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Zoc, "Don't sneak up on me like that," she scolded, trying to hide her shaking hands in the folds of her bathrobe.

"I didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I just couldn't sleep," Ann replied not looking him in the eye.

Zoc looked at her for a long moment then asked, "And what else?"

Ann hesitated a moment, fighting to keep from crying again just thinking about the nightmare, "I had nightmare, but I'm fine," she told him.

"You don't sound fine," Zoc said walking over to her and hugging her.

That was all it took for her to completely break down and start crying as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest, "It's alright, it was just a nightmare, right? Nothing to be afraid of. You know I'd never let anything happen to you," Zoc said gently running his hand through her hair.

"But it seemed so real," Ann said before telling him about the nightmare, when she finished she said, "I'm so scared Zoc, what if they come after us again? It wouldn't be that hard for them to track me down."

"I won't let them hurt you or the baby, anyways your magical abilities are getting stronger, especially when you need to defend yourself, everything is going to be alright. If they try to take you again I'd get you back one way or another," Zoc told her.

"What if you didn't know where they had taken me?" Ann asked.

"Well at this point we figure they don't know you're pregnant, they're just after you because you know about us, and they probably want to keep you from telling anyone. If it came down to it I'd ruin their reason for taking you," Zoc replied.

"How?" Ann asked.

"Make a good number of ants human sized and reveal our existence to the world and tell them that the government took you, making it impossible for the government to deny our existence. From what I've seen on the TV humans already don't trust the government, they may be freaked out about intelligent ants, but they'd hopefully be more angry at the government and they'd be forced to let you go or have to deal with admitting they're unjustly imprisoning people for knowing too much," Zoc told her.

"That's so crazy it might just work, but if people found out about us, about the baby, there would be a lot of people who wouldn't understand, it could be just as much of a threat to our safety as the government is," Ann pointed out.

"Then we'll just have to pray that it doesn't come to that, that's just a last resort. I don't think it will come to that, we're going to be alright," he said lightly kissing her forehead then smiled as a song came on the radio and he took her hand in his, while wrapping the other around her waist and beginning to dance slowly around the kitchen, "Do you remember this song?" he asked.

Ann smiled, "It's the one that was playing when you asked me out on our first official date and started teaching me how to dance," she replied leaning her forehead against his, his antennas gently brushing her hair as she relaxed and they continued


End file.
